Fast fashion: 69% of our clothes contain toxic chemicals

The European Union is implementing a new tax on imports, to limit purchases from fast-fashion e-platforms like SHEIN, Temu, and similar. Their bargain price tags hide a toxic reality, as testing reveals these ultra-cheap garments carry a hidden cost to human health. The EU buys roughly 4.5 million tonnes of fast-fashion textiles each year. Over 5.8 million low-value e-commerce parcels enter the bloc every day, with brands like Shein, Temu and AliExpress attracting more than 400 million monthly shoppers. More than 90 per cent of these e-commerce clothing items are made from cheap synthetic polymers such as polyester, elastane and nylon. These garments are essentially soft plastics that do not biodegrade and eventually become microplastics. Until now, these products were shipped directly from overseas factories to consumers, bypassing EU controls on harmful chemicals and components. The EU’s new customs directive will require electronic tracking data for every incoming package. Border authorities can screen shipments for illegal chemical levels and safety violations before they enter Europe. According to Pelle Moos, chemical expert and policy officer at consumer group BEUC, “every second, around 200 products enter the EU. While we're having this conversation, almost a thousand products will have entered Europe, and only a fraction of them will have been inspected.” Authorities and consumer groups repeatedly find what Moos describes as “astronomical” rates of non-compliance when investigating products sold through ultra-fast-fashion channels. “We are talking in the range of 70–80 per cent,” he said. Textile and fashion chemical alerts have risen sharply, with dozens of international alerts submitted each year to the EU Rapid Alert System. More than 72 per cent of these official textile alerts cite direct human health risks, including severe allergic reactions, chemical burns from excess formaldehyde and potential organ damage from heavy metals. Consumer organisation Testachats also tested Shein toys and found concerning results. “Only one was fully compliant. It's important to note that we did not specifically select products that looked unsafe on the website. We randomly selected 45 toys. Around 60 per cent presented a genuine safety risk, including small parts that could be swallowed or electronic components that were not properly enclosed,” said spokesperson Laura Clays.