A woman shows a vintage store selling a Shein dress for $129 in a viral video. Dresses from Shein usually cost less than $20.
In a TikTok posted over the weekend, Francesca Miller-Hard shows a tag from Melbourne, Australia based vintage shop Inferno Vintage that lists a “little black dress” for $129. Miller-Hard then shows that the dress is from Shein, a Chinese fast fashion company known for its cheap clothing.
“I was silently screaming in the changing room,” Miller-Hard wrote in a comment on her video.
On Wednesday, Miller-Hard’s video had over 175,000 views on TikTok.
@iburntmyburrito little black dress 😍😍😍
♬ real – Dead account
Many commenters on Miller-Hard’s video were confused as to why a simple black dress from Shein, which currently retails between $10 and $20 on the site, was priced at $129—and said that other vintage stores had also marked up cheap items.
“NO WAY,” a commenter said.
“The vintage store at my mall took the cactus shirts from Target, cut them into crop tops,” a commenter wrote,” “And put a $45 tag on them.”
“The time I saw a Kmart shirt for $35,” another commenter said.
Though the word vintage is used by many retailers, clothing is only considered vintage if it was produced over 40 years ago. Items are considered “retro” if they were made over 20 years ago. Shein, however, was founded in 2008.
Other commenters posited that many vintage resellers don’t research or fully inspect the clothes they sell.
“i once went to this vintage only thrift store in austin thinking they were authentic and i bought aliexpress shoes without realizing,” one user shared.
“Praying on the downfall of vintage shops they never do research,” a commenter wrote. “And put things on shelves for abhorrent prices.”
“U know they know nothing about vintage too,” another said. “Cause how can U not feel the polyester…” Polyester is a synthetic fabric that many Shein products are made out of.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Miller-Hard, and the vintage resellers that were involved with the retail of the item.
