How SHEIN Uses Global Footprint to Drive Local Impact

(BPT) – While SHEIN may be synonymous with affordable online shopping, local shoppers in Indianapolis were recently treated to a first-hand look at the brand’s products through a 4-day pop-up event. Customers browsed the physical retail space, interacting with exclusive SHEIN products they would typically only be able to shop online. In the past year, SHEIN has hosted multiple pop-ups around the world.

Connecting with local communities is an integral part of the online brand’s strategy. For a company as large and globally connected as SHEIN, it’s vital to use that market power for the greater good of the fashion industry as a whole and invest in the communities that customers and creators call home.

In May 2023, SHEIN formed a partnership with Girls Inc. of Greater Indianapolis, the central Indiana chapter of the nationwide non-profit organization. Girls Inc. Indy empowers girls, from ages 6 to 24, with evidence-based programming to support their whole selves, providing guidance and mentorship to nurture their strengths. SHEIN partnered with Girls Inc. Indy to support their 2023 STEM summer camp, an educational program for local high school girls to broaden their horizons in science, technology, engineering and math. SHEIN team members presented on multiple STEM disciplines, showing the campers a glimpse of the wide breadth of STEM careers they could pursue.

Participants of the Girls Inc. Indy program were invited to SHEIN’s pop-up activation in Indianapolis, joining 3,500 fans, all able to shop various collections from the brand. Local designer Tendai Phillips also made a special appearance at the event. Originally from Zimbabwe, Phillips moved to the U.S. and earned her degree from The Art Institute of Indianapolis. Her collection, SHEIN x Redefinition, is part of the SHEIN X Design Incubator program that gives independent designers and artists around the world the tools they need to share their brand with customers across global markets. ‘SHEIN X changed my future in the fashion industry by giving me a platform where I could express my creativity and share it with the rest of the world,’ explained Phillips. ‘This is something that would have taken me time to build and bridge that gap between my brand and the rest of the world.’

Since kicking off SHEIN X in January 2021, SHEIN has invested over $55 million in the program and brought over 3,000 designers’ original collections to market. More than half of SHEIN X designers are based in the U.S., spread across 47 states. SHEIN X designers receive production, distribution, and marketing support to take their designs from paper to the global SHEIN site. Programs like this are vital to ensure the next generation of talent has the best tools at their disposal to be successful in the industry.

While the fashion industry continues to quickly evolve, it’s exciting to see a large global brand, like SHEIN, keep individual communities at the heart of their impact. By localizing operations, including the recent establishment of facilities in locations like Brazil, SHEIN helps prove that it’s possible to prioritize supporting local communities that are passionate about fashion to bring the newest trends to local customers and support designers in developing tomorrow’s favorites.