Is Shein Men Legit: Honest 2024 Review
Are you wondering about Shein Men? Is Shein Men Legit? Is it safe? We placed a big order and are sharing all the details.
5 secrets for finding AMAZING things on Shein
8 Years of Shein reviews
I have been ordering things off of Shein.com for over 8 years now. This China-based website has been taking the fashion world by storm and continues to grow in popularity. Overall, the items on the site are hit or miss but there are some tricks to finding great things.
A few years ago we branched out and ordered from Shein Kids (you can read the full Shein Kids review and the 10 best things I’ve ordered from Shein Kids as well). This past year I ordered my first items from Shein maternity and Shein baby. It was about time to order a few things from Shein Men.
I looked for a few gaps in my husband’s closet to figure out what to order. Then, I spent an hour or so scrolling through Shein Men looking for options. I tried to hit a few different categories and styles within Shein Men when I placed my order.
The Shein website can feel a bit overwhelming because of the sheer number of product listings. Right now Shein Men has clothing, accessories, and shoes. I reviewed Shein shoes earlier this year(spoiler: it is consistently the worst category I’ve ordered from Shein) so I skipped it for Shein Men. I assume they’re as low-quality as the women’s shoes.
We’ll share our thoughts on quality, style, and customer service but first here’s a little more information about the fast fashion retail giant.
History of Shein
In 2012 Chris Xu, an American-born graduate of Washington University, gave up his wedding dress business to buy the domain Sheinside.com. He rebranded to Shein in 2015 with his eye on overseas markets. Today, the fast-fashion brand has websites for customers based in the United States, Spain, France, Russia, Germany, Italy, Australia, and the Middle East, with numerous globally positioned warehouses. If you’re shopping in the US you’ll see different product images and have a different user experience than a customer shopping in Japan.
If you’re interested in finance, you might like to know that in 2020 Shein completed a round of Series E financing which gave Shein a valuation of over $15 billion. Revenues are not disclosed but are locally estimated to be over $10 billion annually. The U.S. is now Shein’s largest market and it was the most talked about brand on Tik Tok in 2020.
Is Shein Men Legit?
I know, a full suit for $49 when you would have to spend at least $100 to buy something similar at H&M can seem to good to be true. It is and it isn’t.
When it comes to Shein, you are paying for low-quality, fast fashion.
Shein takes popular, trendy, higher-end items and makes a lower-quality version of them for a much lower price point.
My Shein Men shopping experience:
What I ordered:
- Cream suit
- short sleeve blue button-down
- brown vneck
- drawstring shorts
- black swimsuit (not pictured)
- cream dress pants
- chambray pants
Here you can see the prices I paid for each item:
First Impressions:
Yikes! I didn’t love the feel of the fabric right out of the box. Everything arrived on time and they were the same pieces I ordered. Nothing looks as good in person as they do in the product pictures. Everything was very wrinkled. That said, I’m willing to give a little on packaging and presentation for a cheaper price point so the real test was how things are going to look on.
Husband’s first comments:
The first item Ben tried on was the suit with the light blue button-down. I had already spent 20 minutes or so steaming all the pieces. He remarked about how bad the collars were. Once he had the suit on we snapped a few pictures and he remarked that he felt like has going to a costume party (the only place I’d recommend wearing it).
Next he tried on the other pair of cream pants which were too sheer to wear with undergarments that don’t match your skin tone. When he got to the chambray pants he remarked that these were pretty good and he’d wear these to work (he did the next day).
We were also pleasantly surprised by how soft the v-neck tee was. The real test will be how it holds up after 7 washes.
Quality:
This is the biggest issue for Shein Men. Everything we ordered was low quality and 90% of it was not something Ben can wear in a professional setting. That said, I did order things from Shein Men that were generally lower price points. In women’s categories on Shein I have spent up for some of their higher priced items and been impressed with the quality. There are also going to be random gems BUT, overall, the quality is not awesome. This is especially true for business attire (suits, collared shirts, anything with lots of buttons).
Style + Trendiness:
Shein Men gets an A for trendiness. They consistently have the newest styles and lots of options to choose from. They have styles ranging from casual to formal and everything in between. If you’re really dying to try a new trend and don’t want to spend a lot on it, you’ll almost certainly be able to find it on Shein.
Shein Men sizing + fit:
Everything we ordered ran relatively true to size. If the pieces were made out of higher quality fabrics they would look like they fit better. Nothing drapes or hangs very well. Go ahead and order your regular size but don’t have high expectations.
Customer service/returns
I’ve returned numerous items over the last few years and I’ve never had any issues with Shein returns. As long as I fill out the return request and mail my package within the 30-day window, the return has always been processed within two weeks for a full refund.
Takeaways + Shopping Tips:
If you insist on ordering from Shein Men, here are a few tips for finding things that are better quality.
- avoid things with lots of hardware: This is harder when shopping for Men’s clothing but the low quality of Shein items comes through in things like buttons and zippers. Go for a tee shirt over a button-down to avoid cheap buttons.
- be wary of collars: the other thing that we noticed was consistently bad about the order were the collars.
- try darker colors: a lot of the light-colored items were a bit sheer and you avoid that problem with darker fabric
Final thoughts/pricing and value
My overall recommendation would be to skip Shein Men and invest in higher-quality pieces. It is easier said than done (from someone who has set a goal to NOT order anything from Shein for the rest of the year).
They pull you in with fantastic product photography but the garments are not high quality. This means that they don’t hold up very well over time AND they don’t look as good right away. Because most of the pieces are made from synthetic, low-quality fabric, they don’t drape as nicely on your body.
For a great men’s wardrobe, quality and fit are more important than trendiness and style. In women’s fashion, there is a lot of buzz around the concept of a “capsule wardrobe” but I think this is even easier for men!
If you have a fun costume party coming up and you really want a pink suit, go for it and order from Shein. You’ll look good in photographs (but not quite as good in person).
If you’re trying to build a classy wardrobe, start investing in good-quality basics. Here are a few places I’d start:
You can try shopping secondhand from places like The Real Real. You can also shop for heavily discounted new items from places like Nordstrom Rack or Otrium. Consider buying classic pieces at the end of a season (it is much cheaper to buy a cashmere sweater from the clearance rack in July).
Will we order from Shein Men again?
Only for the couples’ Halloween costume we have every year.
Shein Men Reviews
Here are reviews of the specific pieces we ordered from Shein Men. Some of these we meant to return after my husband tried them on and some of them he kept and wore a few times before writing this review.
Shein Men’s Suit Review
“I feel like I’m headed to a costume party” were the first word’s out of his mouth when Ben put this on. It did photograph very well but don’t let that fool you. The material looks cheap up close and doesn’t lay nicely.
I’m already brainstorming Halloween costumes Ben can wear this for but I don’t think he’ll use it for anything else.
Shein Men’s Buttondown Review
In my experience, hardware, is one of the places you can really tell the low quality of Shein pieces and these buttons are no exception. The collar is also poor so you don’t even want this layered under something. Skip this one, please.
Shein Men’s Shorts Review
These ones ran big and VERY long. We would have returned if we hadn’t missed the 30 day window. They’re thin and unlined.
Shein Men’s Tee Shirt Review
Straight out of the package we were impressed with how soft this felt. It isn’t sheer but it certainly isn’t thick. It’s soft and looks better than expected. Still waiting to see how it holds up to laundering but this was the biggest win of the whole order.
Cream Trousers
I wanted to love these. I really like the look of light trousers but this is where you should spend up on quality. The $39 pair from J.Crew Factory is much better (and the Lululemon version Ben has is even better).
In bright lighting, you can see the pockets through the pant.
Chambray Pants
Here is the one other piece (besides that tee) that Ben liked enough to keep and wear. They’re not high quality but the darker color hides the low-quality fabric better than the cream trousers. They also drape better than the other pants.
Shein Men FAQ:
This fast fashion brand, headquartered in Hong Kong, creates low-quality clothing at very low prices. These pieces are not likely to last for years of frequent wear.
Shein also doesn’t have permanent physical locations so they keep costs down by focusing mainly on the digital space.
Shein is pronounced “She – inn.” It is two syllables and rhymes with grin.
Originally Shein launched as “Sheinside” and was later shortened to simply “Shein.” A lot of people pronounce it “shine” or “sheen” but the correct pronunciation is “she-in.”
No, they’re not. They are made from low quality materials and don’t look very nice.
Yes, Shein has been expanding their men’s collection and they have a wide range of men’s options. They haven’t started offering higher end pieces in the men’s category like they have in women’s. Men’s pieces from Shein are almost all fast fashion, low quality pieces sold at low prices.
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