Online retailers like Temu and Shein are known for selling cheap products like children’s clothing, kitchen gadgets, and electronics. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) wants to know how much real cost cutting foreign online retailers are doing to sell these products at low prices.
CPSC Commissioners Peter Feldman and Douglas Diack issued a joint statement today calling on their staff to evaluate the operations of foreign e-commerce sites. The statement cites Shein and Temu as two online retail companies that “raise specific concerns.”
Recent reports of “deadly infant and young child products” being sold on these platforms have started to raise red flags at the CPSC. A recent report from The Information found that several infant and children’s products on Shein have been deemed unsafe, such as children’s drawstring hoodies for sale that regulators flagged as a strangulation risk. Fashion industry news site Fashion Dive found that Temu is selling children’s pajamas from brands that the CPSC found to be in violation of “flammability standards for children’s sleepwear.”
A spokesperson for Shein said in a statement to CNN that the safety of their customers remains their “top priority and we are investing millions of dollars to strengthen our compliance programs.”
Meanwhile, a Temu spokesperson told us that it “requires all sellers on [its] platform to comply with applicable laws and regulations, including those related to product safety.” The spokesperson added: “Our interests in ensuring consumer protection and product safety are aligned with those of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), and we will cooperate fully with any investigation.”
The CSPC is not the first U.S. government agency to investigate foreign e-commerce companies like Shein and Temu. Last year, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission released a brief detailing the challenges presented by “Chinese ‘fast fashion’ platforms.”
The Commission raised concerns about alleged exploitation of trade loopholes by these platforms and sale of goods that pose product safety risks, infringe copyrights and trademarks, and use of forced labour to make and sell products.