DESTENE Sudduth is a popular social media content creator with millions of followers across multiple platforms.
The lifestyle influencer faced backlash after she toured Shein's factories.
Who is Destene Sudduth?
Destene Sudduth is a social media influencer with a large following on multiple platforms, including TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram.
She shares her popular YouTube account, @DesteneandBrandon, with her husband, Brandon Sudduth.
The pair have over 1million subscribers on the video-sharing platform.
Destene has more than 4million followers on her TikTok account, @itsdestene_, and 394K followers on her Instagram page, @itsdestene_.
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She also has an Amazon storefront and an LTK page.
Destene often creates content related to fashion and home decor.
She and Brandon also create comedic videos and like to prank each other.
The description on their YouTube channel states: "What’s up you guys!! Welcome to our official yt channel!
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"We love to make you laugh with our viral pranks, make vlogs & share our journey! We’re so happy you’re here for the shenanigans. Welcome home family."
Why is Destene Sudduth trending?
In June 2023, Destene began trending after she toured the Shein Innovation Factory in Guangzhou, China, along with multiple other influencers, such as Dani DMC.
The fast fashion brand has faced allegations of unethical conduct, such as that it underpays employees and is involved with child labor.
Shein has denied "sourcing cotton from China’s Xinjiang region, where forced labor and human rights abuses are widespread," per The New York Times.
According to the Daily Beast, in a since-deleted Instagram post, Destene said: "Upon interviewing the workers, a lot of them were really confused and taken aback with the child labor questions and the lead in the clothing questions.
"They basically said, 'Our kids want to be on social media just like y’all. They’re not working in factories, and our clothing goes through rigorous testing before production.'"
She continued: "I expected this facility to be so filled with people just slaving away..but honestly everybody was just working like normal, like chilled, sitting down, they weren’t even sweating.
"We were the ones sweating walking through the whole facility."
Per the New York Post, Destene also said on Instagram: "I’m not gonna lie, I really expected it to look like it does in the movies — like really dark and dingy — but I was really surprised to see each piece handled with care."
Destene and the other influencers involved in the tour received online backlash for praising Shein.
As the outlet reported, one person commented on Destene's post: "Nice building or not it’s not the whole story, don’t believe things so easily."
Another wrote that "it’s been proven that their [Shein’s] workers work 12hrs a day in poor conditions. I’m sorry but this is not it."
What is Shein 101?
According to the clothing company's website, Shein 101 is a "weekly mini docuseries" that will appear on its Instagram Story and Highlights.
It continues: "Our weekly video series takes you behind the scenes at SHEIN to answer all your questions surrounding our factories & workers and our sustainability efforts & business model!"
As Elite Daily reported, the controversial influencer tour was called the SHEIN 101: On The Road trip.
The influencers stayed at the Four Seasons Hotel in Guangzhou, China.
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According to the outlet, Destene said that they toured different Shein factories to see the conditions.
Day 3 reportedly included the Innovation Center tour, while the online stars were taken to the Dawang Weilong sorting warehouse on Day 4.
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