"They weren’t even sweating” - influencers criticised following Shein factory trip

Fast fashion retail company Shein is in hot water again after taking a group of influencers on a paid trip to a factory of theirs in Guangzhou, China.

The controversial company, which has been accused of labour abuse and has, in the past, admitted to breaching rules around working hours, gave the group of six US fashion influencers a tour of its so-called ‘Innovation Factory’.

In a video released by Shein on TikTok, the visitors were shown a clean, bright factory with happy looking staff working alongside automated bots which supposedly process and package orders to be sent out from the multi-million dollar outfit.

The video from Shein and others from the individual influencers' accounts faced criticism by commentators claiming they were presenting a whitewashed version of the company's questionable labour practices. 

While a number of positive videos from the influencers appear to have been deleted following widespread backlash, some remain with the internet stars ignoring critical comments.

Destene Sudduth, who boasts 4.1 million followers on her TikTok account, has left up a number of videos, including one where she apparently learns the workers only spend eight hours a day at the factory and have short commutes. In one comment, which has been heavily attacked in the video’s comments, she attempts to prove that the workers are not in sweatshop conditions, saying, “they weren’t even sweating”.

Other influencers on the trip - Dani Carbonari, Aujene, Fernanda Stephany Campuzano, Kenya Freeman and Marina Saavedra - also shared similarly positive posts on social media about their visit, but comments on the posts and Twitter have claimed the group have been following a script for their content, using all-too-similar language.

Onli