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Corporate Social Responsibility in the Fashion Industry
Corporate Social Responsibility is important for businesses in this time and age as consumers expect these businesses to have a positive image, as well as a positive impact. It is a concept that defines the obligation of firms to the society, its stakeholders, and the environment (Blowfield, 2005). In the fashion industry, fashion companies are becoming more active and vocal in advertising their corporate social responsibility through the social media and their websites. In 2019, 77% of consumers addressed that they would be encouraged to purchase a company’s products if they are showing that they are formulating ways to make the world a better place (Aflac, 2019). 73% of investors also concluded that company’s making efforts on their corporate social responsibility can increase the stockholder’s investments (Aflac, 2019). A lot of fashion brands are aware of this and have started promoting their corporate social responsibility campaigns further.
SHEIN’s Problems
One of the biggest affordable fashion brands in the world now is SHEIN. SHEIN is known for its fashionable yet inexpensive clothing. The company's vast product range and speedy production has gotten a lot of consumer criticism. The company has also been accused of violating Chinese labour rules and using harmful chemicals in its clothing. This company has capitalized on the green-fashion trend by declaring that ‘no raw materials are wasted', but they regularly upload thousands of new products. They have made numerous misleading environmental claims such as pushing ‘recycled materials' and ‘eco-packaging'. The corporation is profiting from making misleading green promises. Greenwashing is deceptive green marketing. SHEIN's CSR will be examined, and the reasons for their Greenwashing will be shown in this study.
SHEIN’s Approach Towards CSR and its Analysis
SHEIN has a Social Responsibility page, but it is inconsistent in every country’s website. This is already suspicious as SHEIN produces all their products in China, but their Social Responsibility pages do not align with one another. In their page, their ethics claims that they provide great working conditions and above average salary to workers, and they have compliance with the strict fair labour standards like SA8000. SA8000 is a certification standard for factories (SAI, 1997) and SHEIN did not mention that they certified with this as they only imply being compliant with it. No independent body has confirmed their certification; thus, these claims are invalid. SHEIN is a huge firm and they do not have an excuse to not have the certification if they have ethical practices unlike smaller brands who cannot afford it.
Other than their certifications not being backed up by professionals, the company does not show any transparency on their labour practices, and they have claims to be ISO certified which covers the quality safety, and environmental impact of production processes. If a company is an ISO certified brand, a company does not need to mention it as ISO does not issue certifications as they ask for accredited certification body (ISO, 2015).
SHEIN has listed multiple environmental measures: Small Quantity Production, Advanced Digital Screen Printing, and a Recycling Program. For the Small Quantity Production SHEIN mentioned that they only create 50 to 100 pieces per style, but it still considered unsustainable as they have thousands of products. The company has also mentioned having advanced digital screen printing that is less harmful than regular screen printing, but they have not mentioned how much they are using this method on each product they sell. Lastly, they have mentioned a recycling program and they implement this by giving gift cards to participants. This method is usually implemented by fast-fashion brands as a form of Greenwashing as there is no real sustainability measures behind it. SHEIN has not been transparent about how much of their clothes are recycled and what is it being recycled into. All the information they have provided in their Social Responsibility page are not specific and are not backed with credible resources.
The firm tries to practice Utilitarianism by providing cheap trendy clothing to people--- which is an advantage for people who cannot afford higher priced stylish clothing--- but it is produced unethically, and the company manipulates consumers to make them believe that they are an ethical company. If the executives of SHEIN does not show any concern for the effects of their actions to the environment, and their workers, the company is considered a consequentialist as making a large profit is their main priority and is the positive outcome regardless of the negative consequences.
Critical Analysis of SHEIN’s strategy to Deal with the Issue
SHEIN’s solution for their Greenwashing issue is launching the “SHEIN Cares Fund” which has the aim to help non-profit groups worldwide that promote entrepreneurship, underprivileged communities, animal welfare, recycling, and the circular economy. This strategy increases their reliability when it comes to their claims of being “green”, but most of their stakeholders still hold them accountable as this does not solve their Greenwashing issue, but they just try to cover it up with it (imperfectidealist, 2021). Based on Freeman et al. (2017), stakeholder theory and CSR both show importance of incorporating societal interests into business operations. With this, SHEIN should be truthful with their Social Responsibility statements as businesses rely on building relationships and creating value for all their stakeholders based on the stakeholder theory (Freeman et al., 2017) and SHEIN’s stakeholders demands transparency which SHEIN should comply to. The solution they have for their Greenwashing is not enough as they should put their words from their social responsibility into actions. Donating a huge sum of money does not mean that they are not Greenwashing as they are still doing their unethical processes and is not giving definite evidence that all their processes are true to what they have written.
Bibliography
Blowfield, M. (2005). Corporate social responsibility-the failing discipline and why it matters for international relations. International Relations, 19(2), 173–191.
Aflac.com. (2019). Aflac Survey Says Majority of Consumers Want Companies to “Take a Stand.” [online] Available at: https://investors.aflac.com/press-releases/press-release-details/2019/Aflac-Survey-Says-Majority-of-Consumers-Want-Companies-to-Take-a-Stand/default.aspx [Accessed 13 Feb. 2022].
ISO. (2015). Certification. [online] Available at: https://www.iso.org/certification.html#:~:text=ISO%20does%20not%20perform%20certification&text=Accreditation%20%E2%80%93%20the%20formal%20recognition%20by,operates%20according%20to%20international%20standards. [Accessed 15 Feb. 2022].
SAI. (1997). SA8000® Standard - SAI. [online] Available at: https://sa-intl.org/programs/sa8000/ [Accessed 15 Feb. 2022].
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Shein.com. (2022). [online] Available at: https://ph.shein.com/campaign/csr [Accessed 15 Feb. 2022].
Imperfectidealist (2021). Is SHEIN Ethical? Deep Dive Into Their Greenwashing. 4 March. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxBW-omaguo [Accessed: 10 February 2022].
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