In what could be the latest indication that so-called fast fashion could soon go out of fashion, a team of US-based students and scientists has found dangerous amounts of lead in items intended for wear by babies and toddlers.
“All of the samples exceeded U.S. federal regulatory lead limits,” the researchers say, following tests on 11 shirts from four unnamed retailers that simulated oral and stomach digestion using samples of gastric acid and saliva.
The tests were used to estimate “the maximum lead bioaccessibility within gastric acid” and in turn to “model the potential transfer during mouthing behavior” typical of babies, such as sucking, holding or nibbling on clothing.
“Even briefly chewing these fabrics could expose children to dangerous lead levels,” the team warns.
“Not only are children the most vulnerable to the effects of lead, but they’re also the population that is going to be putting their clothes in their mouths,” says Cristina Avello of Marian University in Indianapolis.
Fast fashion outlets such as Shein have faced not only criticism but the threat of a ban in France for allegedly allowing inappropriate items to be sold online.
The retailer has also been accused of sourcing materials in Xinjiang in western China, a cotton-growing region where people have allegedly been subjected to forced labour.
And the industry has come under scrutiny as shoppers buy and discard items almost as quickly, it seems, as it takes them to single out and order them online.
In May 2025, the European Environment Agency (EEA) claimed that the continent’s people “are buying and discarding more clothing, footwear and other textiles than ever before.”
The European Union has lined up rules that will see e-commerce platforms that export to the bloc “face clearer responsibilities, and consequences such as fines, when goods sold on their webstore harm consumers,” according to the European Consumer Organisation (BEUC).
“Europe has been swamped by a tsunami of packages from China, and customs authorities could simply not cope with this,” says Agustín Reyna, the BEUC’s director general.
“Consumer groups’ tests of products bought on online platforms have revealed toys that can fatally injure children and textiles laced with banned chemicals which can cause serious skin reactions,” Reyna says.