In just a few years, the Chinese apparel giant Shein has captured the market for bargain-seeking Gen-Z shoppers by offering huge varieties of cheap apparel every day. Along the way, it has picked up a long list of complaints of copyright theft from big brands and boutique designers.
Valued at more than $100 billion and backed by big-name investors such as Sequoia Capital China and General Atlantic, Shein -- pronounced "she-in" -- has enjoyed booming growth. Its appeal includes cut-rate prices, successful tie-ups with online influencers and an endlessly refreshing wardrobe of up to 6,000 new items a day.
Its rise has seen a growing number of lawsuits that allege the company is profiting from other people's designs.
Shein or its Hong Kong-based parent company, Zoetop Business Co., has been named in the past three years as a defendant in at least 50 federal lawsuits in the U.S. alleging trademark or copyright infringement, according to public records.
Plaintiffs range from small-time designers operating out of home studios to retail giants including a unit of Ralph Lauren Corp. and sunglasses maker Oakley Inc., court records show.
On social media, independent designers complain to fans and swap stories of products or designs that they say have appeared for sale by Shein without permission.
In many cases, Shein has settled with plaintiffs, often for an undisclosed amount, court records show. In some instances, it has responded to complaints about knockoffs of their work by blaming third-party suppliers, complainants say.
In March, streetwear brand Stussy Inc. sued Shein alleging that the company was selling products including shirts and shoes bearing its logo without permission.
In one image attached to the lawsuit, Shein was offering for sale on its website a black T-shirt with "Stussy" emblazoned across the front.
The shirt was listed on Shein's website for $17.67, according to Stussy's lawsuit. Shein in a legal filing denied the allegations in Stussy's lawsuit.
"It is not our intent to infringe anyone's valid intellectual property and it is not our business model to do so," a Shein spokesman said in a statement, without commenting on specific cases.
"Shein suppliers are required to comply with company policy and certify their products do not infringe third-party IP. We continue to invest in and improve our product review process."
When legitimate complaints are raised by valid IP-rights holders, Shein promptly addresses the situation, the spokesman added.
An attorney for Stussy declined to comment.
Allegations of copyright infringement aren't uncommon in the fast-fashion industry, where retailers are under pressure to keep prices low and continuously refresh their offerings.
But the number of lawsuits against Shein stands out among rivals: Since 2019, it has been named as a defendant in almost 10 times as many federal copyright or trademark-infringement cases as fast-fashion rival Hennes & Mauritz AB (H&M), a search of public legal records shows.
"Shein is one of several ultrafast fashion retailers that are the new 'usual suspects' in design piracy," said Susan Scafidi, a professor at Fordham Law School and founder of the school's Fashion Law Institute.
"The risk of lawsuits is a cost of doing business for such companies,'' she added.
In January, Shein reached an undisclosed settlement with Nirvana LLC, the copyright owner to the 1990s grunge band.
Nirvana had accused Shein of using the band's artwork in its apparel without permission, including using at least two Nirvana album covers on its T-shirts.
Shein's ability to put up for sale thousands of new items a day at rates that deeply undercut rivals is in part due to its leveraging of China's well-developed garment supply chain. Staples such as T-shirts and shorts often fetch $5 or less on its website.
By targeting Western consumers and eschewing bricks-and-mortar stores, Shein was catapulted by the pandemic-era online shopping craze.
The privately held company's sales grew sixfold in two years to $19 billion in 2021, roughly matching the revenue generated that same year by H&M, according to estimates by Credit Suisse.
"The number of intellectual-property claims against Shein reflects the sheer volume of items the company puts up for sale each day,'' said Simon Irwin, an apparel industry analyst at the bank.
Not all complaints against Shein become lawsuits.
Tiina Menzel, a Germany-based artist who designs prints and stickers, said she complained to Shein multiple times after discovering that the retailer was carrying products bearing her art.
In July 2020, she wrote an email to the company demanding the removal of a T-shirt it was selling with a print she said she had clearly designed, showing a cat and a skull. A Shein employee responded that the company had sold 15 of the shirts and offered her the stated profits, amounting to $40.
The employee said an investigation found the products weren't manufactured by Shein but were bought as finished products from a Chinese vendor.
"We will check more thoroughly in the future," the employee said in the email, which was seen by The Wall Street Journal.
Ms. Menzel declined the offer, calling it unacceptable -- T-shirts bearing Ms. Menzel's designs go for $19 from a licensed retailer.
As she went back and forth with Shein, other designs of hers began appearing elsewhere from the company, including on another T-shirt and a phone case.
Altogether, Shein has used her designs without permission on products nine times, Ms. Menzel said. She said she hasn't hired a lawyer because of the cost.
Shein declined to comment on the complaint.
Raeha Keller, a designer in Los Angeles, said a fellow artist tipped her off a few years ago that Shein was selling multiple pins virtually identical to those for sale on her own website, but for a fraction of her prices, which are typically around $13 or so.
They included a pin of an anatomical heart broken in two, and a floral pin containing the stylized word "feminist," according to a lawsuit she filed in November.
Shein has denied stealing the artist's work.
Ms. Keller said she is a member of a Facebook group called "Pin Theft" where she and fellow pin designers swap examples of alleged design theft by the retailer.
"It's out of control," she said. "So many people buy from Shein."
