Missguided
Rated: Avoid
Price: $
Location: UK
Quick verdict
Missguided is a once-independent UK fast-fashion brand now operating as a Shein sub-label, with products manufactured through Shein's Chinese supply chain and shipped in Shein packaging. It scores 0 out of 150 on Remake's 2024 Fashion Accountability Report. The joint lowest score possible. Buyers seeking trend-led going-out fashion at rock-bottom prices will find that here, but at a steep ethical and environmental cost that makes it impossible to recommend from a sustainability standpoint.
Key info
- Headquarters
- Manchester, United Kingdom
- Founded
- 2009
- Product categories
- Fast Fashion, Womenswear
- Price range
- $
- Key certifications
- None
Missguided sustainability rating
Our ratings are based on a scale from 1 (We Avoid) to 5 (Excellent). How we rate
Rating breakdown
Overwhelmingly virgin polyester and synthetic fabrics. No organic cotton, no certified recycled materials at scale. Under Shein's supply chain, Greenpeace found PFAS levels up to 3,300x EU limits in tested products.
Channel 4's 2017 Dispatches investigation found Leicester suppliers paying £3–£3.50/hour. Half minimum wage. Under Shein ownership, the supply chain has been linked to 75-hour work weeks, child labor (two confirmed cases in 2024), and Xinjiang forced labor concerns. No fair wage certifications.
No carbon targets, no water reduction initiatives, no circularity programs. Products now ship individually from China by air freight. Shein's parent emissions grew 23.1% in 2024. The £1 bikini (2019) remains a symbol of disposable fashion.
The current missguided.co.uk website has zero sustainability content. No about page, no supply chain information, no Modern Slavery statement. Fashion Transparency Index score was just 18% before administration; it has only gotten worse.
Ultra-low prices ($7–$55) make it among the cheapest options available. However, post-Shein acquisition, customers report receiving "Shein quality at inflated Missguided prices." Trustpilot rates it 1.5/5 from 51,000+ reviews, with widespread complaints about quality and returns.
What they do well
- Animal welfare is relatively better: The brand scores well on animal welfare. The brand doesn't use fur (banned after a 2017 scandal), angora, or exotic skins in meaningful quantities.
- Wide size inclusivity: Offers standard, petite, tall, plus size, and maternity ranges. Broader than many ultra-fast-fashion competitors.
- Trend speed for occasion wear: Blazer dresses and going-out styles remain a strong category, with a focused aesthetic identity that differentiates it from generic Shein listings.
- Price accessibility: Entry prices under £10/$10 make fashion accessible to budget-constrained younger consumers, though this comes with severe ethical trade-offs.
Room for improvement
- Labor conditions remain dire: From Leicester sweatshops paying half minimum wage (2017) to Shein's supply chain where workers pull 75-hour weeks for poverty wages, Missguided has never demonstrated credible labor protections. The ETI suspended the brand in 2022 after allegations of sacking Pakistani workers without pay.
- Total transparency blackout: The current website contains literally no sustainability, ethics, or supply chain information. The brand went from publishing a tier-1 factory list (2020) to providing nothing at all under Shein ownership. Founder Nitin Passi declined to attend a parliamentary Environmental Audit Committee hearing on fast fashion in 2018.
- Supplier exploitation is structural: When Missguided collapsed into administration in May 2022, it left suppliers owed millions. Frasers Group then demanded discounts of up to 80% on already-manufactured goods from those same unpaid suppliers, Described by one supplier as wanting to "screw the suppliers, not help them."
About Missguided
Missguided launched in 2009 from Manchester, founded by then-26-year-old Nitin Passi with a mission to bring catwalk trends to young women at fast-fashion prices. It grew rapidly, peaking at roughly £300 million in annual revenue by 2020, powered by celebrity collaborations (including a reported £350,000 deal with Love Island's Molly-Mae Hague) and aggressive social media marketing.
The brand's trajectory has been turbulent. A Channel 4 Dispatches investigation in 2017 exposed Leicester-based suppliers paying garment workers as little as £3 per hour. The four-part 2020 documentary "Inside Missguided" was criticized as corporate propaganda, while revealing product return rates of up to 70% and buyers haggling unit prices from £7.75 to £7.40: leaving almost nothing for workers.
Financial troubles mounted: £26 million losses in 2018, a distressed 50% sale to Alteri Investors in late 2021, then full administration in May 2022. Frasers Group (Mike Ashley) bought the brand for £20 million in June 2022. Just 16 months later, Shein acquired Missguided's brand and IP in October 2023. Products are now manufactured entirely through Shein's Chinese supply chain, and multiple customers report items arriving in Shein-branded packaging with multi-week delivery times.
The brand holds no sustainability certifications. Greenpeace testing of Shein supply chain products has found hazardous chemicals including PFAS, lead, and phthalates at levels far exceeding EU safety limits. Concerns that now directly apply to Missguided products. Kim Kardashian won a $2.7 million default judgment against Missguided in 2019 for systematic design copying. Pricing sits at the very bottom of the market, but customer satisfaction has cratered since the Shein transition.
Product highlights
Tailored Lace Splice Blazer Mini Dress
Polyester blazer dress with lace panel detail
~£22 / $26
Blazer dresses are a Missguided signature. This exemplifies their party-wear focus
PU High Neck Ruched Sleeveless Mini Dress
Faux leather (polyurethane) bodycon mini
~£12 / $15
600+ sold on Shein; PU leather is petroleum-based plastic with significant environmental concerns
Carpenter Baggy Jeans with Pocket Details
Wide-leg denim jeans
~£20–25 / $25–30
No cotton sourcing information available for any denim products—a transparency red flag
Pinstripe Double Breasted Blazer Dress
Tailored pinstripe blazer dress
~£35–40 / $45–55
Higher-end piece showing price creep since Shein acquisition despite reportedly similar quality to base Shein
