The Student’s Union has released a statement in response to last weekend’s protests outside the Student’s Union building in response to a SHEIN sponsored club night organised by a third party promoter.
A group of students from the Sheffield Solidarity Group (SSG) took to the concourse outside the SU building last Friday evening in protest of the freshers’ week event that was sponsored by SHEIN.
A spokesperson from the SSG said: “Students should feel that their SU is committed to the policies it puts in place.”
The spokesperson also said: “For the Students Union to host this event whilst knowing that fast fashion is killing the planet with 10% of global carbon emissions,
“How can our SU which claims to be committed to climate justice allow this to stand?”
The brand has been linked to alleged slave labour and is a massive contributor to the fast-fashion industry with around 10% of global carbon emissions stemming from this industry.
The SU say they received no sponsorship money from SHEIN.
The Student’s Union building has a zero-waste shop and a clothes swap shop aimed to reduce CO2 emissions.
The SU apologised for the sponsorship last Thursday.
The statement said: “We would like to apologise for an event that took place in our building last weekend which included sponsorship by fast fashion company SHEIN,
“On this occasion, the sponsors of the event were not disclosed to us beforehand by the external company who hosted the event in our venue.”
They also claim they will “ensure that sponsorship of all events by external companies are declared in the future so that this doesn’t happen again”.
