All students at Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM) and anyone in the fashion industry should be appalled at FIDM’s partnership with SHEIN, the largest fast fashion company on the planet. SHEIN overproduces cheap disposable clothing and has been accused of shocking human rights violations in sweatshops. 

I’m a fourth year digital marketing student at FIDM and one of the reasons I chose this college in Los Angeles was because of their sustainability classes. I was proud to share that FIDM was named one of the Top Ten Sustainable Fashion Schools in the World. So how hypocritical is it for my school to partner with a fashion brand that has such an  unsustainable business model? 

By signing this petition, you are asking FIDM to end their partnership with SHEIN and to partner with a sustainable fashion brand for scholarships to help students learn about the future of sustainable fashion.

The BACKGROUND: 

FIDM and SHEIN announced a partnership for a new scholarship program and curriculum for students called SHEIN Project Launchpad. 

Twelve students were selected to each receive a $40,000 scholarship, provided by SHEIN with the opportunity to create a five-10 piece collection that will be sold on SHEIN’s website as a part of the company’s designer incubator program called SHEIN X. 

Sounds great right? Design students get money and a shot at a clothing line at a global fashion company. And it would be…if SHEIN wasn’t one of the worst fast fashion polluters. Literally the fashion brand has been named “the unacceptable face of throwaway fast fashion” 

Fast fashion operates on a business model that prioritizes producing large quantities of clothing quickly and at low cost. This approach requires significant amounts of resources such as water, energy, and raw materials like cotton and synthetic fibers. The extraction and production processes associated with these resources contribute to pollution, deforestation, depletion of natural resources and pollution. 

FIDM students are upset about this partnership because it suggests FIDM condones SHEIN’s polluting practices and shocking human rights violations. Reports have exposed that SHEIN garment workers in Chinese factories work 75-hour shifts, in unsafe workshops that lack basic safety protocols like windows and emergency exits.  

FIDM teaches courses on sustainability in fashion and then partners with one of the greatest fast fashion offenders? That makes no sense. How can any college or university teaching students about the future of fashion work with a company that is so negatively impacting our future?

Read more about SHEIN and the dangers of fast fashion in my blog. 

Please Sign This Petition. Ask FIDM to end their partnership with SHEIN and find a sustainable fashion company who will honor those 12 scholarships.