Shein stole my design then used MY photo to sell it: The small business owners going to war against copycat Chinese retail giants brazenly ripping off their work

Designers have hit out after Chinese retail giants ‘copied’ their products, but despite managing to get listings removed they are left feeling powerless and out of pocket. 

Sellers have seen their unique artwork, custom-made clothing and handcrafted jewellery imitated and sold on Shein, Temu and AliExpress for a fraction of the price.

Frustrated artisans have taken to TikTok to expose how their designs have been ‘ripped off’ by websites like Shein, which was founded in China in 2008.

Their videos compare and contrast their designs with strikingly similar Shein knock-offs. 

In one, artist Vikki Jones revealed she had sent Temu a cease and desist letter after the retail giant ‘stole’ her artwork and sold ‘hundreds of copies’.

In the clip, the visibly upset 25-year-old says she ‘doesn’t know what to do’ after hearing of similar incidents that left independent sellers fighting to get their work taken down – with little success. 

Ms Jones, who sells her original designs on posters, cards, coasters and tote bags on Etsy for up to £36.50, told MailOnline of her horror after discovering her work on Shein and Temu – at a much lower price.

The designer, who founded her business five years ago, was left disheartened over how many sales the Chinese retailers had made that ‘rightfully’ belonged to her. 

‘To then have huge companies profit instantly from something I worked on was quite tough to see,’ she said. 

‘I was also concerned that my customers would think I had purchased the prints from Shein or Temu – and that I was the one reselling it.’

But Ms Jones decided to fight back – and reached out to Shein and Temu over copyright infringement. She submitted a claim and the listings were removed one week later.

Shein told her the print was ‘uploaded to their platform via a third party seller and not from Shein themselves’. 

But she was still left out of pocket, after being refused compensation for the profit the Chinese retailers had made from her unique design. 

The artist has been left disheartened over how little power independent designers have to fight against ‘theft’ from Chinese retail giants. 

‘It almost seems like it’s a ‘rite of passage’ for small business owners.  It’s so sad that this is the reality of trying to build a business in the current climate.’

In another TikTok video, owner of boutique fashion label Glass Angel Official chronicles how Shein ‘ripped off’ her £40 leopard star jogging bottoms.

Maddie Glass told her social media followers that ‘it’s not always the better option to buy the cheaper item’ and gave a demonstration of how her custom-made product compared with the ‘knock-off’ version.

Holding them up to the camera, she reveals how the Shein ‘copycat’ joggers do not include a drawstring or pockets – and how the star print appears ‘grey and dim’ when contrasted with her own.

Revealing the thoughtful details she added to the product, Ms Glass says: ‘On my joggers I measure every single pair, to ensure that the gap is symmetrical so they won’t be wonky on your bum.

‘My joggers also have a drawstring, so if they’re a little bit loose you can tighten them. They also have nice, big pockets,’ she adds.

But the feeling among Ms Glass, and many other independent sellers who find their designs on Chinese retailer sites, is that being ripped off is ‘inevitable’.

‘It happens to so many small businesses, it was only a matter of time,’ she said.

Another artisan alerted that her designs were being sold on Shein and AliExpress is York-based jewellery designer Emma Farley.

The 48-year-old sells handmade hedgehog-shaped jewellery using silver and semi-precious stones on Etsy and Facebook, to fund the animal rescue charity she runs.

But the Little Silver Hedgehog founder fell victim to similar ‘imitation’ products being sold for a cut-price on the retailer’s websites.

Last year, an Instagram follower contacted Ms Farley to tell her they had seen copies of her £52 silver hedgehog earrings being sold on the Chinese sites for £1.12.

She even discovered the fashion giants had taken pictures from her Etsy profile – showing her hands modelling the product to sell their own ‘knockoff’ version.

Indignant over her ‘stolen’ designs, Ms Farley decided to order a pair from AliExpress to compare – and found they were ‘virtually identical in every way, apart from looking cheap and soulless’.

‘I use real gem stones for the eyes and real sterling silver, mine sparkle but their ones didn’t,’ she told MailOnline.

One striking feature of the AliExpress ‘replicas’ was a visible seam down the product, suggesting they had been made using a mould.

Ms Farley now suspects the company may have bought the products off her to create their own copycat versions.

But after reporting the listings, during what she described as a ‘purposefully’ difficult and time-consuming complaints process, they were successfully taken down. 

Although in most cases, the Chinese retailers remove listings when they receive an infringement notice, the damage is already done to small business owners who have lost out on vital earnings.

This was the experience of graphic designer Thomas Aggett, 20, who discovered his poster designs, costing between £14.49 and £32.49, had made more than 300 sales on Shein for just £1.25.

Realising he had lost up to £10,000 in sales after the designs wound up on the Chinese retail site, he told MailOnline: ‘I was pretty annoyed. I’m a student and my shop helps me to be able to live and look after myself at university. 

‘It is tough knowing that Shein are happy to profit off people trying to get by.

‘It’s almost humorous how shamelessly they rip people off. It’s quite a shock at first, I’d heard of things like this happening to others but didn’t expect it happening to me.’

Mr Aggett also managed to get the product listing removed.

A spokesperson for Shein said: ‘SHEIN cannot comment on any individual case, but it takes allegations of intellectual property infringement seriously and it is not SHEIN’s business model to infringe the rights of third parties.’ 

An AliExpress spokesperson said: ‘AliExpress is committed to protecting intellectual property rights and prohibits merchants from listing items that infringe upon the IP rights of third parties. 

‘AliExpress has in place measures to combat counterfeits. Rights owners may contact our platform and submit their claims through our Intellectual Property Protection Platform to report cases of infringement. Any listings in breach of our policy will be removed from the site.

‘We were first made aware of Emma Farlay’s issue in October 2023 and we contacted Mrs Farley to discuss her case and to inform her of the channels available to rights holders to protect their intellectual property rights. The listings identified by Mrs Farley had been removed back then.’

Regarding Ms Jones’ experience, a spokesperson for Temu said: ‘We can confirm that all the products reported by Vikki Prints through our IP protection portal were swiftly removed within two business days.

‘Temu is a marketplace where third-party sellers list products for consumers. As part of our onboarding process, sellers provide verifiable identity information and are bound by agreements that include a commitment to respecting intellectual property rights. 

‘Sellers are held responsible for meeting these terms, and if they don’t, we have steps in place—ranging from removing specific items to suspending or permanently banning sellers in cases of serious or repeated violations.

‘Within Temu, we’ve set up a specialised system dedicated to the protection of intellectual property rights and an associated reporting structure. These systems act as swift, responsive mechanisms to address any intellectual property infringement claims made by rights holders or consumers. We take immediate and robust actions to rectify any such issues.

‘We recently launched an improved brand protection center to facilitate more comprehensive coverage of similar designs and images. We have significantly expanded our IP protection team as our business has grown, leading to rapidly improving efficiency in the processing of complaints.

‘The effectiveness of our IP protection efforts is reflected in the continuous decrease in both the number of complaints and their proportion relative to our business volume. The IP-related complaints we receive are extremely low, accounting for just 0.0019% of the total products on our platform. Additionally, 99% of our IP complaints and cases are resolved within five business days, and our average resolution time is around one business day. These figures rank among the best in the industry.

‘In addition to responding to takedown requests, Temu proactively protects thousands of brands by applying round-the-clock algorithmic monitoring for potential infringements, supported by manual review. The ratio of proactive to reactive takedowns has improved significantly, with proactive takedowns now more than 30 times the number of reactive requests as of September 2024.’