The Shein influencer doubled down on her defense of the fast-fashion brand despite its history of labor abuses: 'If you think it's propaganda, that's cool'

• Influencer Dani Carbonari digs into her defense of fast-fashion brand Shein following a sponsored trip to China.
• Carbonari was accused of spreading "propaganda" and ignoring its history of labor abuses.

A style influencer and self-touted "confidence activist" who received backlash after defending fast-fashion label Shein's labor practices, has doubled down in her defense of the brand. In her address of the controversy, Dani Carbonari also admitted that the motive behind the trip was to debunk "rumors" about the brand.

"I have so much more awareness of what's going on behind the scenes than any of you ever could," Carbonari, who is known more publicly as Dani DMC, said in a since-deleted TikTok she posted over the weekend. Carbonari's TikTok was re-uploaded to Twitter by TV writer and actress Franchesca Ramsey.

Facing critics who called her glowing review of the company and one of its facilities "propaganda," the influencer maintains she knows more than them.

"I've seen stuff with my own two eyes. If you think it's propaganda, that's cool," she said. "Again, you've never been to China and you've never seen what's going on."

Carbonari, along with five other influencers, was flown to Guangzhou, China, earlier this month to tour one of Shein's factories and visit its "Innovation Center." She posted an Instagram video about the trip on June 20 that went viral, with people criticizing her for offering an overly positive view of the fast-fashion retailer despite its documented history of labor abuses and poor working conditions.

The Los Angeles-based creator, who has nearly 500,o00 followers on the platform, said that the Shein handlers who guided her on the trip allowed her to interview a woman working at the center who answered "honestly" about the "rumors" surrounding its working conditions at Shein.

While Carbonari didn't specify what rumors the woman was referring to, the brand has been widely and publicly scrutinized over its poor labor practices and lack of transparency over the years.

Shein scored just 2.2% (out of 100) on the Fashion Transparency Index, which measures fashion brands along a variety of metrics, including sustainability, labor practices, and social impact.

Because so much of Shein's production is done by subcontractors across 6,000 or so factories in China, "it's easier for manufacturers to ignore their responsibilities, and it's easier to obscure the voices of workers," Huang Yan, a professor at the South China University of Technology in Guangzhou, told Shanghai-based media site Sixth Tone in a 2021 report.

A 2022 Channel 4 investigative report found that Shein employees endured 17- and 18-hour workdays, often working in unsafe environments where emergency exits were blocked. In some cases, workers were reportedly paid as little as $20 a day for their labor and were sometimes fined up to two-thirds of their daily wages for making mistakes.

Shein told Insider reporter Sarah Jackson at the time it was "extremely concerned" by the material shown in the investigation, and that it violated "the Code of Conduct agreed to by every Shein supplier."

Carbonari offered conflicting information about her financial arrangement with Shein

Yet, despite these reports, Carbonari told her followers she "felt more confident than ever" in her partnership with the company.

"Could never, would never be a sellout ever in life. I was not paid for any trip or to say anything," she said.

But in another deleted video screen-recorded and uploaded by Ramsey to Twitter, Carbonari spoke about how she had signed a deal with Shein and was "in the works" so that she "can bring information from the brand to the consumer," including "debunking a lot of these rumors."

She said they had "come correct" and "definitely not underpaid me and taken great care of me."

Ramsey told Insider she believes Carbonari is missing major red flags in her partnership with Shein.

"To most people, if you were asked to go on a brand trip and they said, 'We want you to dispel the rumors about our brand,' you would think, 'Why are there rumors about your brand?'"

"I would think it should set off alarm bells that a company is saying that they want you to use this specific language," she said.

In the first video Carbonari published addressing the criticism, the influencer said others would have "done the exact same thing" had they been offered the trip. However, many users quickly and vehemently disagreed.

Sustainability advocate and former "Love Island" contestant Brett Staniland has been particularly vocal about the bad precedent this sets for creators online.

"I believe creators have a responsibility to their audience to be honest so that people leave your page educated and empowered, and this is the exact opposite of that," he said. "Knowingly and purposefully misleading your followers is terrible. You're dishonoring the people who are mostly women of color who are being exploited by Shein's factories every day."

Ramsey, for her part, thinks that Carbonari and her fellow influencers were taken advantage of by the fast-fashion company.

"Some of the things that she said in that follow-up video that I stitched really kind of pinged my spidey senses, like, 'I've never been on a brand trip before,'" she said. "The excitement to be invited somewhere and to not actually step back and think, 'Is this the right move? Why are they asking me? What's the goal here of having a group of influencers participate in this trip?'"

Carbonari did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. Insider has also reached out to Shein for comment.