Some of the fast fashion making the rounds on Instagram and Facebook has a secret ingredient — lead.

Chinese retailers such as Shein and other “affordable” clothing sellers are flooding the U.S. market with everything from sparkly dresses to statement jewelry. But reports have repeatedly linked these products to harmful exposure, and American regulatory agencies have spent years allowing this market to churn.

Many experts say the brands are exploiting U.S. trade loopholes to avoid oversight and evade tariffs, while targeting vulnerable Generation Z consumers.

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In a study of fast fashion clothing, researchers for the German consumer magazine Ökotest found not only large amounts of lead but also antimony and cadmium — all dangerous substances linked to cancer and reproductive harm. And according to Le Monde, Seoul, South Korea’s environmental health team discovered toxic chemicals such as formaldehyde and phthalates in Shein and Temu products, with some items exceeding legal limits by hundreds of times.

“Phthalate-based plasticizers affect reproductive functions such as sperm count reduction and can cause infertility,” said an official from Seoul’s environmental health team.

These chemicals, often found in products for children, have raised concerns globally, yet U.S. consumers remain largely unaware of the hidden dangers in these cheaply made items, experts say.

Of course, Shein’s game-changing business model moves fast fashion at warp speed. Known for “real-time fashion,” the Chinese e-commerce giant leverages its in-house design teams and cutting-edge data analysis to spot trends, and design and manufacture products faster than its competitors, according to data from Daxue Consulting, a market research and strategy firm focusing on the Chinese market.

So while other brands may take weeks to launch a new collection, Shein churns out 500 to 2,000 new items daily, as Daxue noted in its report from earlier this year. In 2020 alone, it released 150,000 fresh styles — surpassing what most fast fashion brands put out in an entire year.

Gen Z shoppers, known for their price sensitivity, are drawn to Shein’s ultra-cheap fashion, with 55% of them prioritizing price above all else when shopping, Daxue reports.

But bargain-basement prices certainly aren’t inhibiting Shein or Temu’s profits. In 2022, Shein earned a yearly revenue of $22.7 billion, a nearly $7 billion increase from the year before.

And Joel Thayer, CEO of Digital Progress, said Temu’s sales are even higher — higher than the company is willing to report.

“I mean, I think Temu said they’re about $15 billion in revenue. And then they had, they actually had a leak of their emails. It’s actually closer to $42 billion,” Mr. Thayer said. “They’re not honest with the incomes that they’re getting.”

He added that consumers would be mistaken to think the e-commerce giants are simply good at marketing and selling.

“These companies aren’t just cheap knock-off factories — they’re tightly connected to the Chinese government, designed to advance the state’s economic goals,” Mr. Thayer told The Washington Times.

The Washington Times has reached out to Shein and Temu for comments for this report.

Chinese brands’ widespread advertising on U.S. internet platforms makes them nearly unavoidable for targeted shoppers, who may be unaware of these health risks. Shein caters directly to this demographic through a seamless experience across its website, app and social media platforms, all while leveraging a vast network of influencers to keep the buzz alive.

Unlike older generations, Gen Z discovers fashion brands primarily through social media and targeted ads. And nearly half of Shein’s followers are under 35, making it the go-to brand for young, budget-conscious consumers, Daxue notes.

How have these brands been able to infiltrate the U.S. market so rapidly? According to Josh Levine, director of tech policy at the Foundation for American Innovation, much of it boils down to the de minimis exemption — an obscure trade loophole that exempts imports valued under $800 from tariffs and inspections.

Originally meant for small personal imports, the de minimis exemption has been exploited by giants like Shein and Temu to dodge U.S. regulations, officials and analysts say.

“Since, I think, 2017 or 2018, we’ve seen a massive uptick in the number of products that are coming in through the de minimis exemption, specifically from China. I believe it’s 63% right now … and that is largely being driven, as we can see, through Shein and Temu,” Mr. Levine said.

Under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), which President Biden signed into law in 2021, all goods partly or wholly made in Xinjiang, China, are officially assumed to be tied to forced labor camps — and disallowed from entry.

Since 2017, China has detained up to 1 million Uyghurs in these camps, forcing them into labor under brutal conditions, Bloomberg reports. And laboratory tests conducted for Bloomberg News in 2022 confirmed that Shein uses cotton from China’s Xinjiang region, a fact that has continued to be ignored by many American consumers.

Luke Hogg, director of policy and outreach at the Foundation for American Innovation, works with Mr. Levine on Chinese trade policy recommendations. He pointed out to The Times that these abuses aren’t just one-and-done — they’re systemic.

“Shein and Temu’s supply chains are infected with forced labor. The UFLPA of 2021 established a presumption that any goods made in Xinjiang are produced through slave labor, but enforcement has been slow,” Mr. Hogg said.

Indeed, despite U.S. bans on cotton from the region, Shein circumvents scrutiny by shipping individual orders under that $800 threshold — allowing its products to enter the U.S. market without the usual customs inspections.

“Chinese companies are exploiting this loophole to avoid tariffs and ship hundreds of millions of illicit products into our country,” Sen. Marco Rubio, Florida Republican, said in a written statement to The Times. “It’s dangerous, and proposed reforms by the Biden-Harris Administration do nothing to address it.”

Experts seem a little shaky on what exactly those proposed reforms are, aside from ending the de minimis exemption entirely.

Last month, the White House announced plans to crack down on Chinese companies such as Shein and Temu. The Biden administration urged Congress to pass changes that would remove key products like textiles from the de minimis exemption to better protect U.S. consumers and businesses from unfair competition.

New regulations also will target tariff-evading shipments and enforce stricter safety measures, the White House said.

But a Senate aide, speaking on background with The Times, said shutting down de minimis isn’t likely, given how many other companies and consumers depend on the exception for business. What’s more, Shein is continuing its trend of denying foul play.

“Shein has hired up a vast array of lobbyists, and they’re sort of trying to build a coalition against changes to minimus … and there are other people who I think would just prefer … a complete shutdown of trade with some of these items,” the aide said. “But, I mean, even if one were to sympathize with that, it’s just unlikely to happen.”

While trade loopholes have been helping Shein and Temu sidestep import regulations, their dominance in the U.S. market is fueled by a sophisticated digital marketing strategy that’s particularly potent with the Gen-Z online set.

An issue brief from the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission revealed that Shein’s success is deeply rooted in its use of data to identify and predict consumer behavior.

Shein leverages user search history and social media activity to anticipate emerging fashion trends faster than its competitors, giving it a marked edge in a market increasingly driven by rapid shifts in online culture.

“These companies use digital tools to understand their customers better than almost anyone,” Mr. Thayer said. “It’s a data play — they’re collecting personal data, analyzing patterns, and using artificial intelligence to tailor their offerings to consumers’ tastes almost instantly.”

Certainly, Shein and Temu have mastered the art of “fast fashion.” They use social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram to promote their products, often through partnerships with influencers.

TikTok and Instagram features “haul” videos of influencers trying on Shein and Temu clothing drive millions of views and spark viral trends, which only fuels demand for more cheap, quickly produced products.

The #Shein tag on TikTok, for example, has accumulated more than 3.3 billion views, while the company boasts 250 million followers across social media platforms, the USCC brief reveals. The brief also shows that Temu, too, has capitalized on digital advertising, purchasing nearly 9,000 ads on Meta platforms in January 2023 alone.

But Shein’s rapid growth in the digital space has raised serious concerns. According to the USCC, Shein collects vast amounts of personal data, and New York state’s attorney general fined Shein’s parent company $1.9 million for mishandling sensitive consumer information following a 2018 data breach that exposed the records of 39 million accounts.

Critics argue that Shein’s data collection practices are not just a way to sell more clothes but part of a broader strategy to integrate with the Chinese government’s economic ambitions.

Sen. Tammy Baldwin, Wisconsin Democrat, expressed similar frustrations in a statement to The Times.

“Right now, Chinese companies are exploiting a trade loophole to import goods into the U.S. with no oversight — letting them bring in cheap, counterfeit goods that undercut American manufacturers and traffic drugs into our communities,” Ms. Baldwin said in an email.

While lawmakers and advocates continue to push for stronger enforcement of existing laws, the reality is that American consumers — particularly those with lower incomes, especially Gen Z — are paying the price.

That’s why some disagree with any push for more regulation. Scott Lincicome, vice president of general economics at the Cato Institute, argues that the real problem isn’t the de minimis exemption but U.S. tariffs. He points to Trump-era tariffs as the reason why companies like Shein and Temu have exploited this loophole.

“de minimis isn’t just about China. The Trump tariffs opened Pandora’s box, forcing companies to find ways around them,” Mr. Lincicome said. “Yes, Shein and Temu have figured out how to exploit it, but they’re not alone. The de minimis exemption used to be about China — now it’s about everywhere.”

Mr. Lincicome argues that this kind of government interference disproportionately harms low-income Americans, who rely on affordable imports. “If we eliminate the de minimis exemption and slap tariffs on all imports, we’re effectively imposing a new regressive tax on poor Americans. These low-cost goods save American consumers billions of dollars each year,” he added.

Instead of hiring more customs agents or enforcing stricter regulations, handing more costs to taxpayers, Mr. Lincicome suggests reducing tariffs on low-value items to encourage bulk imports.

“Policing T-shirts is a waste of resources,” he said. “We should be focusing on bigger issues like fentanyl, not rayon party dresses.”

The Senate aide said it’s all part and parcel of the same question: “It’s about everything that can sort of move through freely without the scrutiny, because they’re all using the threshold.”

But Mr. Levine and Mr. Hogg don’t think the de minimis exception needs to be done away with, either. That would be “throwing the baby out with the bathwater,” the two told The Times.

In a recent report the duo published in foreign policy magazine The National Interest, Mr. Levine and Mr. Hogg said the Biden-Harris administration should instead focus on beefing up the UFLPA “by increasing inspections and audits of companies with ties to Xinjiang, particularly those in the fast fashion industry.”

“By ramping up targeted enforcement efforts, the U.S. can more effectively block products made with forced labor from entering the market without resorting to broad measures that affect legitimate trade,” they added in the report.

While there is bipartisan support to close the de minimis loophole, the debate continues on how to proceed. Ms. Baldwin and Mr. Rubio are among those pushing for stricter controls on Chinese imports, but the political landscape is fraught with challenges of diplomacy and enterprise.

And though de minimis helps alleviate some of the swollen costs that global trade can impose on American consumers — particularly low-income and Gen-Z consumers — Mr. Hogg said something’s got to give.

“We don’t want to pass those costs onto consumers, unless there’s a reason to do so,” Mr. Hogg said. “And in this case, if it’s being used with [health hazards] and forced labor, I think there certainly is.”