Greg Jericho
Chief Economist

There’s a report out today that the head of Australia Post, Paul Graham, is calling on Australians not to buy Temu and Shein and other pretty cheap and nasty products for Christmas.

Now the Opposition is very much aware of the risks of such things given the wipeout they got after buying Peter Dutton a Temu Trump outfit for the election campaign, and as anyone who has bought from those outlets probably has a good idea that you truly get what you pay for and that ain’t much.

But a report by Nina Gbor, the Director, Circular Economy & Waste Program here at the Institute, last year found that Australia is the biggest buyer (and waster) of fast fashion in the world. Australians buy on average 56 items of clothing a year – much of which is driven by fast/cheap/low quality clothing that lasts roughly one wash.

The problem (apart from the waste of money) is that clothing all ends up in landfill and it is essentially made completely from plastic. Nina found that  “in 2020–21, Australia generated an estimated 860kt of textiles, leather and rubber waste. This is the more than 16 times the weight of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. A big part of this – about 300kt – is clothing waste”. Also that “Shein launches up to 7,200 new items per day, and is reportedly able to produce a clothing item, from design to packaging, within a week. This fast fashion ‘trendmill’ means that overproduction and overconsumption have become longstanding fashion trends, and a massive feature of our clothing culture.”

Because of brands like Shein and Temu “between 2018 and 2023, the production of synthetic fibres in China increased by 21 million tonnes – this is enough to make more than 100 billion t-shirts in a year, which would be enough to give everyone in the world more than 12 t-shirts a year. Ultra-fast fashion brands such as Shein and Temu have been accused of contributing to the persistence of China’s oil demand.”

So yes, avoid Temu and Shein – it’s going to leave you crying due to a crap product, but it is also terrible for the environment and the climate.

Here’s Nina on ABC last year explaining the problem and what to do about it: