Chinese Fast Fashion Giant’s Dominance Blighted by Slavery Allegations

Giant Chinese e-commerce retailers like Temu and Shein have joined Aliexpress in invading the wallets of Australian and New Zealand shoppers seduced by low prices and quick delivery. One retailer, Temu, is run by Chinese-owned PDD Holdings, which operates the Pinduoduo brand, and reportedly generated $2.44 trillion yuan (AU$506 billion) in gross merchandise during the height of the pandemic in 2021. Research company Roy Morgan reported over 1.26 million Australian shoppers visited Temu each month from July to December 2023, amounting to annual sales of $1.34 billion. While Shein has amassed over 800,000 shoppers each month for items such as clothing and accessories. Despite sourcing from China, Temu maintains offices in the United States and, over the past 12 months, has expanded into Western countries, offering apparent bargain basement deals on everything from clothing to electronics utilising a direct manufacturer-to-consumer model....