Concerning detail shoppers are noticing on Shein labels

"Are the workers trying to tell us something?" the video that's shocked 34 million people asks. 

Fast-fashion giant Shein has again come under fire after a fashion blogger shared a video claiming to have uncovered hidden messages on its labels.  

Mila Kozak, a sustainability influencer, re-shared the shocking clip, which initially went viral in 2022, with her 48k followers last week. 

It allegedly shows 'cries for help' written on the garment care labels.

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Image: Instagram

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"Big misunderstanding or call for help?"

In the viral video, which has now been viewed 34 million times, Mila shows various tags with messages like, 'Need your help, 'Help me' and 'I have dental pain'.

Mila captioned the clip, "Big misunderstanding or call for help?" before suggesting that these could be messages from Shein factory workers who are subject to forced labour. 

Over on TikTok, people have also shared similar messages they've found on labels from their online orders.

Messages include 'SOS' and 'help me plz'.

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"Horrifying"

The comments on Mila's video are full of people weighing in on the conspiracy theory. 

"My friend and I used to buy from Shein, and we stopped because on her tag, it said HELP," one person said.

"Cheap to the wallet, expensive on humans," another poignantly stated.

"If something is cheap, it just means someone else is paying," someone else echoed. 

And a different person said, "This is horrifying."

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The fast-fashion retailer denies the allegations

It's important to note that when this scandal first broke in 2022, Shein responded to the claims and denied the allegations.

They put out a statement to their official TikTok account (which has now been deleted) that read: "Shein takes supply chain matters seriously. Our strict Code of Conduct includes policies against child and forced labour and we do not tolerate non-compliance."

In addition to this, the urban legends debunker site Snopes, found that there is "no evidence" that most of the tags featured in these viral videos are real.

They said, "It's unclear from the actual photographs what brand of clothing these tags are attached to. It furthermore seems clear that the phrase 'need your help' isn't a cry for help but awkwardly worded washing instructions for the garment in question."

Shein's tarnished reputation

While we can't verify the authenticity of the tags, it's worth mentioning that Shein has faced a number of investigations over the years that have turned its reputation into a brand that faces criticism over the conditions of its workers, where employees have 75-hour shifts and work in unsafe conditions. 

They are reported to post 10,000 new items in a day to their website and create up to one million new garments per day. Also, only 6% of items stay on Shein's site for more than 90 days. 

If these statistics don't suggest strict labour conditions to you, several social media users have urged people to watch the documentary Untold: Inside The Shein Machine to make up their minds.

Originally published as Concerning detail shoppers are noticing on Shein labels