Shein has launched a new apparel collection made from “deadstock,” the excess, unsold and leftover fabric inventory that are typically discarded by fashion brands.
Shein’s goal is to “rescue” 1 million yards of deadstock and turn it into clothing. It hasn’t set a deadline for delivering on that promise, but in 2023, it bought 21,792 square yards of the stuff. Shein calculates that this action saved 41 million gallons of water, eliminated 3,000 kilograms of chemicals and avoided the equivalent of 29 metric tons of carbon dioxide —the environmental cost of making the material from scratch.
Fashion causes 92 million metric tons of textile waste annually, because consumers are throwing away clothes more quickly after wearing them fewer times. It also has a heavy carbon footprint, estimated at 4 to 6 percent of annual global emissions — more than aviation. Shein, founded in 2008, has been under closer scrutiny by fashion sustainability experts since 2017, when it began its big push into the U.S. market. Among other things, their concern is that Shein’s low prices and hyper-fast new product cycle encourage unsustainable consumption and resource use — issues that the deadstock plan will not address.
“One of the goals in our sustainability journey is to achieve a fully circular economy by 2050,” said Caitrin Watson, director of sustainability at Shein, when the “rescued deadstock” milestone was announced in early May. “To meaningfully reduce emissions in the fashion industry we need to not only minimize our own waste, but collectively to eliminate the concept of waste altogether.”
The fashion industry’s inventory problem
Deadstock comes in many forms, from fully sewn garments to bolts of unused material. The unsold inventory sent to landfills, burned or buried in warehouses each year is worth $288 billion, according to Queen of Raw, a company partnering with Shein on the project. Queen of Raw operates a digital marketplace that puts waste textiles back into commercial circulation.
“The companies holding the deadstock, which is the majority of traditional retail companies, they don’t have an avenue to use it,” Watson said. “If we can be a rescuer of this deadstock fabric, we can test it in different styles and see what customers want to wear.”
There are “dozens” of women’s dresses, shirts, skirts and other items in Shein’s first deadstock-inspired collection. Seventy-five of Shein’s manufacturers are participating in their production, using rescued and recycled polyester, rayon, spandex and other materials sourced through Queen of Raw. Most of the fabric is sourced locally, near Shein’s existing production facilities in China, according to Shein and Queen of Raw.
1 million new styles per year
Shein has been public about its goal but other brands are waking up to the value of deadstock in a circular strategy, said Queen of Raw CEO Stephanie Benedetto. “This is a great sustainable alternative to work with, finally, at a good price point,” she said. Her company also counts Nike, Ralph Lauren and Cotapaxi as clients for its sourcing services.