Students furious after Shein is given a stall at Newcastle SU’s Discover Newcastle Fair

Students have expressed their anger at Shein occupying a table at Newcastle University SU’s Discover Newcastle Fair in the Venue.

Yesterday afternoon, Shein was offering students the chance to win a whole rack of clothes and a £200 voucher if they had their picture taken with their branding and signed up via email to enter a competition.

Some students expressed their anger at Shein’s presence on campus with some branding Newcastle University as being contradictory to their previous claims of being a sustainable university.

The university website says: “Newcastle University commits to embedding social and environmental justice throughout our activity. We are taking action on the climate and ecological crises. We do this through our environmental sustainability work”.

Students have lambasted these claims and called out the university for their decision to host Shein on campus. People have exerted their frustrations on Twitter, highlighting the irony of the university’s pride in sustainability and ethics.

Among the first to express their disapproval on Twitter was Jemima, a slow fashion advocate, who said: “What was that about sustainability and ethics? This company is one of the worst polluters in the fashion industry, and that says a lot. Not to mention their human rights record. Angry does not cut it”.

One person replied to Jemima, and said: “This is so embarrassing from Newcastle Uni”. Whilst, Lucy, a third year Newcastle Uni student, shared the tweet to her Instagram story and commented: “So much for the most sustainable university – complete contradiction”.

When contacted, Newcastle University SU said: “We are aware that some students have registered their frustration at Shein being part of yesterday’s Discover Newcastle Re-Freshers Fair. We take the views of all students very seriously and, following discussions between the Directors and Sabbatical Officers, we have decided to amend our approach to promoting fast fashion brands within the Student Union building.”

The Tab Newcastle has contacted Shein for comment.

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