Global fashion ecommerce company Shein has rolled out a US$50 million fund addressing global textile waste management and furthering the development of a circular economy.
Photo credit: Shein
The five-year Extended Producer Responsibility fund will create strategies focused on clothing that enters the global secondhand apparel market and often leaves the trade as waste.
The fund has committed an initial grant of US$5 million annually for three years to The Or Foundation, a not-for-profit organization based in the US and Ghana.
The foundation will use the amount to support young women in the world’s largest secondhand clothing market – Kantamanto in Ghana – who carry bales of clothing on their heads; incubate community businesses transforming textile waste into new products; and pilot fiber-to-fiber initiatives with textile manufacturers in the country.
“We have been calling on brands to pay the bill that is due to the communities who have been managing their waste, and this is a significant step toward accountability,” said Liz Ricketts, co-founder and executive director of The Or Foundation.
Shein reported US$15.7 billion in revenue last year, a 60% increase from the US$9.8 billion it made in 2020.
See also: How Style Theory turns into a regional fashion rental house
Editing by Kul Bhushan and Lorenzo Kyle Subido
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