Shein. The recurring brand that consistently reappears in your feed, or when you ask someone where they got their outfit from. It is a name that has recently dominated the fast-fashion industry, known for its insanely low prices and its abundance in plastic Shein bags that their clothing comes in. From 4-dollar bikinis to 11-dollar homecoming dresses, here’s the total rundown of how Shein came to be.

Shein was first created in China in 2008, by an entrepreneur Chris Xu. Although the website didn’t really take off until 2011 (when the website was finally launched), it still sold womenswear and dresses. The company since then has made a total amount of 15.7 billion dollars in sales (about 47 million a month). The company has also incorporated other businesses that have similar prices and similar items of selling. The brand Romwe, was bought by Shein in 2014, and since then has doubled the amount of money that Shein has been making in the past 8 years. The mystery of Shein has also surrounded the founder for quite some time, Chris Xu, a graduate of Qingdao University of Science and Technology, has received numerous awards for his success. But there are many sources that give many different views of how he became so successful. And there are only a few people who have ever seen him appear in the public eye. 

Now as a brand that is seen by many, it has come to the attention of many others the amount of waste and lack of sustainability their products create. Shein is part of the problem that many consumers buy into, and in the future, maybe society will start to stray from these fast-fashion brands.