Shein Apologizes for Selling a Swastika Necklace After Facing Backlash Online

Starr Bowenbank
·4 min read
Photo credit: SHEIN
Photo credit: SHEIN

From Cosmopolitan

  • Shein came under fire for selling swastika necklaces on its website yesterday.

  • Shein pulled the necklaces after getting backlash and said the symbols were Buddhist swastikas, not Nazi ones.

Everyone likes to appear well dressed, and if you say otherwise, you’re a damn liar. But of course, looking put together can come with a hefty price tag, which is why shoppers often turn to fast-fashion retailers. Unfortunately, “cute” was the complete opposite of what shoppers found when looking through the jewelry section of Shein’s website yesterday.

A simple search of Shein showed it was selling a gold swastika necklace, which is truly disgusting for obvious reasons. Naturally, the backlash was swift and brutal. One Twitter user wrote, “In case u needed another reason to boycott Shein: They are selling f*cking SWASTIKA NECKLACES. This is ACTIVELY THREATENING to the Jewish community. I’ve seen you all posting about other issues but being silent on antisemitism—do NOT let Shein get away with this.”

Other tweets didn’t mince words either:

Following the backlash, Shein removed the necklace from the website and issued a statement through InStyle claiming that the symbol on the necklace was not a Nazi swastika—it was a Buddhist one. (But, like, STILL.)

Its statement reads:

“For the record, Shein was not selling a Nazi swastika pendant, the necklace is a Buddhist swastika, which has symbolized spirituality and good fortune for more than a thousand years. The Nazi swastika has a different design; it is pointed clockwise and tilted at an angle. However, because we understand the two symbols can be confused and one is highly offensive, we have removed the product from our site.

“As a multicultural and global brand, we want to apologize profusely to those who are offended, we are sensitive to these issues and want to be very clear that we in no way support or condone racial, cultural, and religious prejudice or hostility. We are actively working through our internal structure and processes to resolve these issues, including a product review committee to ensure that we respect our diverse community. We are a global and all-inclusive brand and we are taking extreme measures to ensure that all items are cleared through a rigorous vetting process before we retail them.”

It also issued a statement on its official Instagram account following the drama.

View this post on Instagram

To everyone we’ve offended, we’re really sorry...

A post shared by SHEIN.COM (@sheinofficial) on Jul 10, 2020 at 4:53am PDT

Mind you, this is hardly the first time Shein has come under fire for selling culturally dangerous and insensitive products on its site. Just three days ago, it had to pull “decorative rugs” from its website that were actually prayer mats after Muslim activists lobbied against the company to have them removed.

Thankfully, there are a bunch of ethical and sustainable clothing brands to shop from, amirite?

You Might Also Like