SHEIN, a global, integrated, fashion and lifestyle marketplace , announced Thursday that it is allocating an additional $85 million over five years towards initiatives that support the “Equitable Empowerment” pillar of its evoluSHEIN roadmap.
This is in addition to $70 million already committed in April, SHEIN said in a statement.
According to the statement, SHEIN’s environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) roadmap, evoluSHEIN, is the company’s strategy to address social and environmental challenges and make a positive impact on society.
The roadmap comprises nine priorities organized under three strategic pillars – people, planet and process.
Equitable Empowerment, the “people” pillar, focuses on uplifting and empowering stakeholders who are fundamental to SHEIN’s success.
It is also noted that Waste-less innovation looks at improving SHEIN’s processes and practices to enable a circular future and reduce waste.
Collective resilience also outlines SHEIN’s strategy to collaborate with stakeholders across the shared ecosystem to ensure the sustainability of the planet.
The “Equitable Empowerment” pillar also seeks to improve the lives of communities that are important to SHEIN and create opportunities for people in these communities to reach their full potential, focusing on aspiring designers, SHEIN’s supplier community, and women, young people and the underprivileged.
“At SHEIN, we aim to empower our different stakeholder communities with the tools, capabilities and funding to improve and change lives, whether in their personal or professional capacity,
“This fund will support these communities to grow alongside SHEIN, towards a more equitable future,” said Molly Miao, Chief Operating Officer at SHEIN.
According to the statement, the $155 million in funding is broken down over five years across the groups as follows:
Aspiring designers: $50 million
SHEIN’s manufacturing supplier community: $70 million (announced in April 2023)
Women, young people and the underprivileged: $35 million
SHEIN said it has also committed $50 million towards the SHEIN X Designer Incubator Program, to empower up to 5,000 emerging designers over five years to build their own successful brands.
This additional funding will bring the company’s total investment into the SHEIN X Designer Incubator Program to $105 million till 2028.
Since launching in January 2021, the program has grown from seven to nearly 3,000 designers and artists from over 20 countries, launching more than 25,000 original creations to global audiences.
Meanwhile, SHEIN’s Supplier Community Empowerment Program (SCEP) helps the company’s manufacturing supplier community to transform traditional production models with technology advancements, providing factory and facilities enhancements, training and upskilling for workers and services for communities within the supplier ecosystems in Brazil, China and Turkey.
In April 2023, SHEIN announced a total of $70 million of funding for the SCEP over five years.
To improve the lives of the communities, the company is also allocating $35 million over five years to expand or fund new global or in-country social impact activities focused on empowering women, promoting gender equality, supporting the development of young people and poverty alleviation.