- Emma Carrasco says she bought a $31 pair of Shein shoes that melted while she was wearing them.
- She uploaded a video of the alleged incident to TikTok.
- As of May 27, the shoes appear to have been removed from Shein’s website.
Emma Carrasco did not expect her brand-new shoes to melt while attending a festival in Las Vegas — but that’s exactly what she says happened.
Carrasco shared the experience in a TikTok video. The video has since garnered more than 653,000 likes on the social-media platform.
In the video, Carrasco wrote that she spent weeks planning her outfit for the Lovers & Friends festival on May 15. She said she bought a pair of black shoes from Shein, the Chinese-owned fast-fashion giant, for $31. But the shoe appears to have been no match for Las Vegas’ 100-degree weather: In the video, Carrasco can be seen walking around in uneven Mary Janes.
“My heel melted and did ‘deflate’ so to speak,” Carrasco told Insider of the experience.
“My friends were wearing $2 flip-flops from Old Navy and nothing happened to them. I usually visit Vegas once a year and wear $10 shoes since I know I’ll get them dirty and nothing has ever happened to them,” Carrasco added. “I will not be buying shoes from Shein again.”
Carrasco’s video has drawn reactions on Twitter, with many users saying they’re not surprised by the low quality of the shoes.
“I’m shocked when ppl say they bought shoes from Shein like bby with that quality y’all are brave lol,” one Twitter user wrote.
Another user on Twitter wrote that Shein was “collecting victims.” Two images of girls wearing heels that appeared to have folded over onto themselves accompanied the caption.
Carrasco told Insider she threw the shoes away two days later: “I usually keep shoes for years or donate them, but the heel was still deflated when I tried putting them on.”
As of May 27, the shoes no longer appear to be available on Shein’s website.
“Shein has strict quality control standards for its suppliers. When we learn that a Shein item may have a quality issue, we will immediately remove the item from our website and app,” a Shein spokesperson told Insider.
On consumer review website Trustpilot, 33% of customers rank Shein as “bad” or “poor.” Most of the negative reviews surround the quality of Shein’s products.
“Clothes were see-through and tacky looking, bought a blazer with gold bottoms and all the bottoms fell off within days will never buy clothes from there again,” a woman from the UK wrote.
Shein was valued at $100 billion in April. The company has been accused of various unethical practices, including copying designs from companies including Zara and Levi Strauss. In November, Swiss advocacy group Public Eye accused Shein of violating labor laws in China, per the BBC. Shein told the BCC it would initiate an investigation among suppliers and take immediate action against suppliers who are non-compliant with local laws.
