Shein has become a major force in American shopping culture, drawing tens of millions of U.S. customers each year and generating an estimated $19 billion in domestic sales. Its rapid-production, low-cost fast-fashion model has helped transform the company into one of the country’s most influential online retailers.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Monday announced a sweeping investigation into the global retailer, saying his office will examine whether Shein violated state laws involving unethical labor practices, hazardous materials and consumer safety. The probe will focus on Shein’s supply chain and manufacturing operations, including whether the company uses toxic or unsafe materials, misrepresents product safety or provides deceptive information about ethical sourcing. Investigators will also review the company’s data collection and privacy practices, which Paxton said may pose risks to millions of American consumers.
“Safe, non-toxic material and products are another key ingredient to the Make America Healthy Again movement,” Paxton said in a statement. “Any company that cuts corners on labor standards or product safety, especially those operating in foreign nations like China, will be held accountable.” Paxton added that Texans “deserve to know that the companies they buy from are ethical, safe, transparent, and not exploiting workers or selling harmful products.”
Shein, founded in 2008 by Chinese entrepreneur Chris Xu (Xu Yangtian) in Nanjing, began as an online wedding-dress retailer before expanding aggressively into fast fashion. Now headquartered in Singapore, the company sources most of its products from thousands of suppliers in China and has become one of the largest fast-fashion platforms in the world. Market research estimates it generated $38 billion in global sales in 2024, nearly half of which came from the United States.
The Texas investigation comes as international scrutiny of Shein intensifies. France’s consumer-fraud agency recently reported finding child-like sex dolls and illegal weapons for sale on the platform. French regulators have sought to suspend Shein’s operations in the country for three months, and the European Commission has requested additional information to determine whether the retailer poses a “systemic risk” to consumers across the bloc.
