The state of Seoul, the country’s capital, reported on May 28 that the children’s products sold by the Chinese-founded online shopping large Shein contained harmful substances that were hundreds of times above acceptable levels.
Shein, with its headquarters in Singapore, has become so popular all over the world in recent years, providing a wide range of fashionable clothing and accessories at unmatched rates.
In addition, this explosive expansion has prompted more investigation of its business practices and health standards, including those in South Korea and the European Union, where Seoul officials have been conducting regular audits of products sold on platforms like Shein, Temu, and AliExpress.
In the most recent round, they compared eight products sold by Shein, including children’s shoes, leather bags, and a belt, and discovered that several of them contained significant amounts of phthalates, which are used to soften plastics.
The city government reported that three bags had amounts as high as 153 times the maximum phthalates, while one pair of shoes had 428 times the highest levels ever observed during the Seoul inspections.
Phthalates are frequently used to soften plastic, and they are found in a wide range of products, including toys, beauty products, and containers. However, they have been known for decades to cause hormone disruptions and have been linked to obesity, heart disease, some cancers and fertility problems.