Shein is finally being held to account after years of accusations that the fast-fashion retailer rips off other people’s designs [ICYMI]

Shein one of the world’s most popular online shopping platforms (for clothes anyway) is now finding itself in the court room. In a lawsuit, multiple designers sued the company over claims that it has been hijacking designs it doesn’t own for years and in turn profiting off of them.

Those who filed the suit are Krista Perry, Larissa Martinez and Jay Baron in the United States District Court for the Central District of California Western Division. Interestingly also in the same suit, the suit notes that some believe that Shein uses a secret algorithm it has never disclosed to the public before. Several allegations claim that this secretive algorithm can quickly spot trends and almost immediately replicate them.

“There is no Coco Chanel or Yves Saint Laurent behind the Shein empire. Rather, there is a mysterious tech genius, Xu Yangtian aka Chris Xu, about whom almost nothing is known. He made Shein the world’s top clothing company through high technology, not high design,” the complaint reads in part.