Be careful if you buy clothes from these very popular online stores: studies have revealed that the textiles used contain several toxic products. And at alarming levels.
With an ultra-aggressive marketing policy and unbeatable prices, the fast fashion giants have firmly established themselves in the European market and are enjoying overwhelming success with consumers. However, they attract strong criticism not only on a competitive level, but also because of their incentive to overconsumption. They push consumers to buy low-cost products that they do not necessarily need, which are often of poor quality and therefore need to be replaced regularly. Suffice to say that the ecological impact is catastrophic… And that’s without taking into account the deplorable working conditions of the employees – the Uyghur people are unfortunately paying the price!
In short, whether at the level of production, transport or waste management, nothing is going well when it comes to AliExpress, Temu or even Shein. Even consumers pay the price directly, since these e-commerce stores do not hesitate to sell counterfeits, dangerous or harmful to health items, ignoring European regulations. Moreover, the metropolitan government of Seoul (South Korea) tested textiles offered by these three Chinese giants, in particular children’s winter clothing. The results, relayed by Business Insider, are unequivocal.
It’s quite simple: out of the twenty-six items of clothing analyzed, seven contained toxic substances such as lead, cadmium and phthalates, which are all highly carcinogenic. Records were even sadly reached by two items of clothing sold on Temu. For example, a child’s jacket contained 622 times the legal limit of phthalates, known to cause sterility. The analyzes also detected quantities of lead and cadmium respectively 3.6 times and 3.4 times greater than the authorized limit. The second item of clothing, a jumpsuit, had a phthalate level 294 times higher than the legal quantity.
But Temu is not the only actor who failed the tests. In fact, a pair of shoes from the AliExpress site contained five times more lead than the authorized limit in South Korea. The offending articles have since been removed from the platforms.
This is not the first time that this problem has been highlighted. The Belgian consumer association Test-Achats had already carried out tests and concluded that Shein had a tendency to incorporate dangerous substances (endocrine disruptors, allergens, irritants, etc.) for the health of its customers into the clothing it sold. it sells, well beyond the contents authorized by European legislation. Same conclusion in the investigation carried out by South Korean authorities in May 2024, which explained that a pair of shoes sold on Shein contained 428 times the authorized levels of phthalates.
Likewise, a study reported that 95% of toys sold on Temu do not comply with European safety rules. Poisoning, choking, cutting… The products present significant risks to children’s health. As for AliExpress, it is under formal investigation by the European Commission, regarding the sale of illegal products, and more particularly fake medicines. But other than that, everything is fine…