Shein will launch a design competition

Sunday, August 22 SHEIN X 100K "Be Bold, Be You", Shein's first online competition dedicated to emerging designers will start. During the 4 episodes of the series, which will air every Sunday until September 12 on the app and on the brand's YouTube channel, 30 young creatives will compete to enter the top 5 finalists who will fly to Los Angeles where they will try to gain the votes of a jury composed of Khloé Kardashian, Zendaya's stylist Law Roach, stylist Christian Siriano, former J.Crew creative director Jenna Lyons and InStyle fashion editor Laurel Pantin. The winner will be awarded a $100,000 cash prize and will participate in Shein's virtual runway show for fall/winter 2021.

The competition is part of the SHEIN X project, a program that, according to the company founded by founder Chris Hu, "offers emerging fashion designers and illustrators the opportunity to collaborate with SHEIN, and take their designs and brands to new heights." One of the biggest reasons for Shein’s investment in finding new creatives is definitely the many accusations of intellectual property theft made by independent designers (Bailey Prada’s most recent was in August 2021). With an ultra-fast fashion production pace that travels at an average of 4,000 new items uploaded to the site every day that follow the trends of the moment, the brand constantly needs new collections to propose and, for this reason, has often copied others' creations without asking their permission. 

Other criticisms made against the ultra-fast fashion giant include the low quality of the garments and vague news about the sustainability of the products. Therefore, many fans of Khloé Kardashian, Christian Siriano and the other judges of the SHEIN X 100K "Be Bold, Be You" contest have criticized their involvement with the company.