As an experiment Test Achats purchased 25 different children's clothes via the Shein e-commerce platform, including rain jackets, t-shirts, shoes and swimming trunks. These articles have been examined by the organization for chemical composition.
Phthalates, lead, nickel and others
The test revealed that almost half contained at least one chemical hazardous to health. It's all about phthalatesi.e. substances disrupting hormonal balance in the body, allergenic substances, such as lead or causing skin allergies nickeland irritants, such as dimethylformamide and quinoline.
As reported by the organization, a pair of tested children's shoes it contained five times too much lead and several hundred times too much phthalates than allowed by European Union regulations.
One piece of clothing withdrawn from sale. What about the rest?
As PAP reported on Friday Shein press office in Polandthe platform has already taken action against the product indicated by the organization immediately decided to withdraw it from saleat least for the duration of the investigation.
“We take it seriously Achats test findings and as soon as we learned about the report they had prepared, we contacted them and asked for detailed information,” the company wrote in a statement provided to PAP, assuring that it gives priority to the safety and health of customers.
High European standards
The company's press office told PAP that Shein requires its suppliers to comply with strict standards standards that comply with, among others, with the European REACH regulation, and cooperates with independent, international inspection institutions that regularly conduct unannounced inspections of factories. Last year, 400,000 tests were carried out. chemical safety tests of products.
In April The European Commission classified Shein as a very large platform, i.e. having more than 45 million active users in the EU. In line with EU Digital Services Act (DSA) these platforms must comply with stricter regulationsincluding assessing and preventing the risks to which their users are exposed.
Shein debuted in 2008. Chinese fast fashion platform offers mainly women's clothing, but also includes children's clothes, jewelry, cosmetics, home decorative products and toys. It is popular mainly because of low prices and numerous promotional campaigns. According to Bloomberg, Shein was expected to be the most downloaded e-shopping application in 2021.
From Brussels Jowita Kiwnik Pargana
