SHEIN is making London its home, so sign this petition to stop it

At the beginning of the year, reports surfaced that Singapore-based fast fashion retailer SHEIN was considering floating on the London Stock Exchange. Although US regulators have already blocked the company from the New York Stock Exchange, it looks like the UK is set to welcome SHEIN to its new home, with the company filing paperwork for its London listing in early June.

At this point, the various allegations against the company are well known. In 2022, a Channel 4 team found that SHEIN’s garment workers were paid as little as 3p per item for 18 hour days with no weekends, and they were also fined two thirds of a day’s wage for making any mistakes. Another investigation from Bloomberg reported that cotton sourced from Xinjiang was used in SHEIN’s clothing, a region where the Chinese state stands accused of “horrific abuses” against the Uyghur people. That, coupled with tax-dodging accusations and a damning carbon footprint, means SHEIN setting up shop in the UK would not only be a reputational disaster, but a moral one, too.

Since the listing was announced, there has been some public push back. Amnesty International has said that the company coming to London would set a “worrying human rights precedent,” and added that, “rewarding SHEIN’s current methods via a flotation would be a badge of shame for the London Stock Exchange.” The UK-based human rights group Stop Uyghur Genocide has also petitioned our financial regulator to block the listing due to accusations of forced labour. Now, fashion campaigner Venetia La Manna and author Grace Blakeley have launched Say No to SHEIN, a new campaign demanding the UK government block the deal – and they need your help.

At the heart of the campaign is a petition, which makes three main demands to the UK government: to block the listing and complete “a thorough investigation into SHEIN’s labour practices, environmental impact and tax arrangements”; to fully reject the listing “if the investigation finds that SHEIN is violating international agreements on labour rights, making use of forced labour, or avoiding tax”; and finally, to enforce “mandatory social and environmental due diligence for corporations.”

The campaign has the backing of former Green Party leader Caroline Lucas, who said, “There should be no place on the London Stock Exchange for companies that exacerbate climate breakdown, violate workers rights and avoid taxes. This is a test of the new government’s commitment to upholding higher social and environmental standards.” So, is the new Labour government committed to upholding these standards Lucas speaks of? Well, if Keir Starmer cosying up to SHEIN is anything to go by then probably not, but regular people can still make their voices heard by signing the petition put forward by Blakeley and La Manna.

To sign the petition from Say No to SHEIN, click here.