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Waste-Less Innovation

Innovation is what will propel the fashion industry towards a more sustainable and ethical future. We look to embed circularity principles and resource-saving technologies into our operations to enable a future where we can close the loop.

We believe that innovative solutions will be needed to address the systemic challenges of the fashion industry, with collaboration across the ecosystem involving all parts of the value chain, from suppliers to customers.

Our Targets and Aspirations

We believe that innovative solutions will be needed to address the systemic challenges of the fashion industry, with collaboration across the ecosystem involving all parts of the value chain, from suppliers to customers. We are committed to helping drive this industry-wide transition by supporting advancements in materials innovation, production planning, end-of-life management, and increasing customer engagement to promote circularity.

Our targets and aspirations are to:

  • Engage the majority of SHEIN’s customers in circularity by 2025
  • Become a global leader in rescuing deadstock materials from becoming waste
  • Establish a fully circular textile supply chain by 2050 in alignment with our World Circular Textiles Day commitment.

Our strategic priorities for driving impact are to:

OPTIMISE RESOURCE EFFICIENCYDESIGN CIRCULAR SYSTEMSACCELERATE SUSTAINABLE INNOVATION
By using technology to introduce more efficient processes throughout our value chain, SHEIN aims to reduce water, energy, and material use while minimising waste and promoting responsible resource use.

Optimise Resource Efficiency

By leveraging technology to introduce more efficient processes throughout our value chain, SHEIN strives to minimize the use of essential resources such as water, energy, and raw materials, reduce waste generation, and promote responsible resource use.

Waste-less innovation

What distinguishes SHEIN from traditional retailers is our on-demand business model, which strives to minimise wastage from the start. Overproduction occurs due to a mismatch of demand and supply –…

Water-less innovation

In line with leveraging our edge in innovation, we invest in the research and development of manufacturing technology and production processes that consume less water and encourage the adoption of…

Design Circular Systems

We believe that true circularity can only be achieved through collaborative action. This includes efforts to minimize textile waste within our own operations, as well as collaborations with like-minded partners and industry experts to advance a fully circular textile ecosystem, from raw material sourcing to product end-of-life management.

Advancing circularity through global collaboration.

Since 2022, SHEIN has been a signatory of World Circular Textiles Day, together with a global coalition of brands, suppliers, and other organisations united in the common goal of achieving full…

Encouraging customers to engage in circularity

Customers are increasingly prioritizing sustainability and seeking ways to extend the lifespan of their clothing. We encourage the prolonged use of our products and are committed to designing with…

SHEIN Exchange

In 2022, SHEIN launched SHEIN Exchange, a peer-to-peer resale platform that enables customers to buy and sell pre-owned SHEIN items. SHEIN Exchange features user-friendly tools, such as automatic…

Garment takeback and recycling

In 2024, we continued to run clothing collection programmes in markets such as Australia, Brazil, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, leveraging occasions like pop-ups where…

Downcycling textile waste

In 2024, we also sought to reduce further textile waste generated in our own operations. We recovered a total of 40 tonnes of fabric, comprising garments selected for quality control sampling and…

Addressing end-of-life textiles through global initiatives.

SHEIN is committed to finding sustainable solutions to address the issue of discarded textiles. Since 2022, we have supported efforts to tackle global textile waste management and further the…

We’re using our disruptive mindset to drive positive change in fashion and beyond by rapidly testing and scaling sustainable innovations.

Accelerate Sustainable Innovation

SHEIN’s on-demand business model is innovative and tech-driven. We take a similarly agile approach to sustainable innovation, involving research and development, strategic data analytics, testing, and the scaling of new solutions and business models.

Our test-and-scale approach

Our culture thrives on a test-and-scale approach in the product development process. Our employees are encouraged to proactively identify areas for improvement in our current products or new…

Center of Innovation for Garment Manufacturing (CIGM)

Established in 2022, SHEIN’s Centre of Innovation for Garment Manufacturing (CIGM) focuses on developing waste reduction and efficiency-enhancing technologies that can be standardised and scaled…

Materials research and innovation

Scaling textile-to-textile recycling will be an important part of our circular transition, as well as that of the fashion industry as a whole.

As we support efforts to ramp up textile-to-textile…

Incorporating deadstock with Aloqia

SHEIN’s partnership with Aloqia has continued to grow since 2022. As of 2024, Aloqia’s proprietary software has been integrated into SHEIN’s sourcing system, enhancing the flow of information between…

Process | SHEIN Group