Shein accused of stealing Winnipeg Indigenous clothing company’s designs
Posted May 27, 2026 7:40 pm.
Last Updated May 27, 2026 7:45 pm.
A Winnipeg Indigenous clothing company claims China-founded Shein took almost 20 of their designs and put it on their website for sale, including pictures of their family members who are models for their brand.
Indigenous Nations Apparel Company has been in business for nearly six years in Winnipeg.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the company’s CEO Michelle Cameron started selling her line of Indigenous streetwear at markets or conferences to stay alive and keep her doors open.
“Five years ago, you couldn’t find this kind of store in a mall. So that was my dream, to open up a retail store,” says Cameron.
She says recently she had a couple of her customers reach out to let her know that they may have seen some of her products on Shein, a popular.
Cameron did some digging along with her media team, and what she found was worse than she could have imagined. She claims they went as far as to use some of the designs that have her company’s name on it and the date it was established.
“It wasn’t just 1. It was 2, it was 3, it was 4, it was 5. It was actually 20 of our designs was stolen from our website and put onto theirs,” Cameron said.
Shock, anger and disgust is what Cameron felt when her work of more than five years was stolen from her, including pictures of her daughter modelling the clothes.
Cameron claims she sent an email out to Shein, letting them know they didn’t have any rights to use her daughter’s pictures, and she says all she got was a generic email back.
“Indigenous people haven’t been business owners forever and for us to invest in our time, invest in our everyday culture and put it onto apparel,” Cameron said. “That’s the hard part that’s tough to swallow.”
In a statement to CityNews, Shein said that they were made aware that the products in question were being sold on Shein Marketplace by third party sellers and immediately removed the listings from their platform and launched an investigation.
As of right now, Cameron says Shein has taken down most of the designs, but hopes this brings awareness to other designers who are sharing their work online.
“I want an apology and I want them to rethink their business practices. They can’t be doing this. They can’t take other people’s designs without no communication – like if you want to sell myself let’s come up with an agreement or you buy it from us, but to just take it and put it on their website and try profit it,” Cameron said.
