SHEIN Foundation established to help solve global textile waste problems and empower communities

SHEIN, the world's leading online fashion and lifestyle retailer, announced the establishment of the SHEIN Foundation. As a non-profit organization, the SHEIN Foundation aims to foster more inclusive and sustainable communities in all regions where SHEIN operates, and the Foundation will become the philanthropic arm of SHEIN. The SHEIN Foundation has pledged €5 million (US$5.3 million) to the Africa Collect Textiles (ACT) Foundation, which launched a pilot program for the collection and recycling of waste textiles in Kenya .

The SHEIN Foundation will work to build more inclusive communities and sustainable ecosystems, focusing on supporting causes and organizations that are consistent with the company's charitable purpose, namely improving community life, protecting biodiversity, and promoting sustainable change. Among them, improving community life focuses on women, young people, and people who do not receive adequate public services to overcome systemic challenges, help revitalize communities, and create more equitable opportunities, thereby creating a more inclusive future where everyone can fully realize their potential; protecting biodiversity by protecting, restoring and promoting the sustainable use of terrestrial and marine ecosystems to address challenges such as biodiversity and habitat loss caused by climate change; promoting sustainable change by investing in research and supporting the development and implementation of innovative strategies for environmental and social sustainability, promoting scalable solutions, and accelerating the transformation of the fashion industry towards a more circular and sustainable direction.

“Empowering and giving back to the community has always been at the core of our business philosophy,” said Donald Tang, Executive Chairman of SHEIN. “The establishment of the SHEIN Foundation brings greater credibility and transparency to our philanthropic work by consolidating all philanthropic work under a formal philanthropic organization. This also enhances our ability to direct charitable giving in a more impactful and sustainable way to better support causes and organizations that align with our values.”

The funds pledged to the ACT Foundation will be used to carry out textile donation and post-consumer textile recycling activities in Kenya and the wider African region. This mainly includes establishing a convenient drop-off point network for the public to donate old clothes; creating new jobs such as collectors, sorters and craftsmen to upgrade textile waste into new products. These new jobs will focus on employing young people and women from disadvantaged groups; in addition, recycling infrastructure will be built to handle large amounts of textile waste; and online and offline promotion programs for the community will be upgraded, such as seminars, lectures and collection activities.

Elmar Stroomer, Director of the ACT Foundation, said: “This project will significantly advance our mission to reduce textile waste and foster a more circular fashion ecosystem. Through this project, we are not only protecting the planet, but also creating jobs, changing lives and providing opportunities for those in need. This will inspire hope for a more sustainable and equitable future for all. ”

With the establishment of the SHEIN Foundation, SHEIN's previous charitable commitments will be integrated at the appropriate time to achieve the mission of the foundation. In the past few years, SHEIN's charitable commitments have supported many causes and organizations that address social and environmental issues. Among them, the SHEIN Cares Foundation focuses on promoting women's rights and gender equality, supporting the all-round development of children, and reducing poverty. The SHEIN Producer Responsibility (EPR) Fund is used to solve the global textile waste problem and further develop a more circular fashion ecosystem, especially in the global South affected by this problem. From 2021 to 2024, SHEIN has allocated more than 26 million US dollars for the above two commitments.

In fact, funding the ACT Foundation is consistent with the goals of SHEIN 's previous EPR Fund, and the project will also be managed by the SHEIN Foundation. The SHEIN EPR Fund has provided funding to The Or Foundation and the Untours Foundation, which supported the KaTik project in Cambodia , which cooperates with social enterprises to reuse textile waste .

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