Shein’s announced participation in Vancouver Fashion Week receives backlash

By ROSE LEUNG

Vancouver Fashion Week’s decision to name fast-fashion giant Shein as one of their featured designers has sparked outrage among some members of the fashion community.

Shein has a well-documented history of complaints for allegedly copying designs and mass-producing low-cost imitations, which critics say is at odds with Vancouver Fashion Week’s commitment to showcasing local and Canadian designers.

Fashion marketing student Marciana Romero, who has formerly volunteered for Vancouver Fashion Week, said that it is “unbelievable” for Shein to be shown on a platform “that is primarily for small designers,” especially given that “Shein is notorious for stealing from small independent designers.”

“It felt really like a spit in the face for all of the designers that spent a lot of money to be there, to have their work platformed alongside work that is most likely stolen from other designers,” Romero said.

In the days following the public backlash, the brand was quietly removed from the Vancouver Fashion Week schedule, though Shein’s designer page is still active on the Vancouver Fashion Week website.

Vancouver Fashion Week has not yet issued a public statement addressing the controversy and did not respond to a request for comment. Shein also did not respond to the Voice’s request for comment.

Shein not a good fit for runway

Beyond copyright concerns, Romero said Vancouver Fashion Week’s decision to feature Shein was confusing due to the nature of the brand.

“Shein isn’t a designer. I don’t know the inner workings of Shein very well, but like it’s not a Marc Jacobs, like a big brand with like a creative director and like a designer name,” Romero said.

Raman Singh, who owns a contemporary clothing line called Esthique, said that giving Shein a platform at Vancouver Fashion Week will hurt small businesses and designers.

“Compared to other fashion weeks, Vancouver has been pretty limited to small business owners,” Singh said.

Though Singh doesn’t believe there should be an outright ban on fast fashion companies attempting to show at fashion weeks, he said Shein is a different case because of their history of inhumane practices.

“They have had multiple companies or multiple designers suing them because they copied their designs,” he said.

Vancouver Fashion Week’s importance to local fashion industry

Vancouver Fashion Week has historically partnered with local schools, including Vancouver Community College, to showcase student designers on the Vancouver Fashion Week runway.

Sarah Murray, Vancouver Community College’s program coordinator for fashion and creative courses, said she feels lucky that Vancouver Fashion Week exists, especially since most cities in Canada don’t have a fashion week.

“Vancouver Fashion Week is a really great platform for our students to be showcased. They bring in media from around the world, the industry’s there,” she said.
She said that stealing and copyright infringement are common in the fashion industry, noting that fast fashion is built on watching what happens on the runway and recreating it for a cheaper price point.

“As soon as you put your stuff out there, there’s always the possibility of it being copied. It’s just part of the industry. Shein most certainly isn’t the only one guilty of that,” Murray said.

She said taking on larger brands allows Vancouver Fashion Week to obtain the money needed to produce the event and feature local designers.

“If it was all Vancouver brands, Vancouver Fashion Week wouldn’t have existed for 25 years.”

Murray said that Vancouver Fashion Week remains an essential part of the industry in Vancouver.

“Without them, our designers don’t have a platform that showcases them at an international level.”