Shein’s AI-Driven Fast Fashion Faces Waves of Designer Lawsuits Worldwide

Shein’s Alleged Business Model of “Systemic Theft of Intellectual Property” The core accusation is that Shein’s business model is fundamentally based on, as the lawsuit charges, systemic theft of intellectual property.

The 42-page complaint details Shein’s use of proprietary online surveillance—including data mining, algorithms, and AI—to track consumer trends in real time, especially on social media and art platforms, to identify trending products or designs it expects to be commercially successful.

The suit alleges Shein has gone beyond trend tracking and now systematically scrapes user and designer data both on its own pages and across the internet: vacuuming up copyrighted works and then mass-manufacturing lookalikes.

Explosive Growth, Legal Scrutiny, and a “Cost of Doing Business” Approach Shein’s explosive success is quantified by its jaw-dropping growth: Annual revenue skyrocketed from ~$3 billion in 2019 to $10 billion in 2020, and over $30 billion in 2023. Yet as it grew, so did controversy…