Shein was called out this morning for using what appears to be an AI-generated image of alleged murderer Luigi Mangione to hawk a floral shirt. The listing, now scrubbed from the site but preserved on the Wayback Machine, was a masterpiece of viral slop, with an SEO word salad listing title: “Men’s New Spring/Summer Short Sleeve Blue Ditsy Floral White Shirt, Pastoral Style Gentleman Shirt For Everyday Wear, Family Matching Mommy And Me (3 Pieces Are Sold Separately).” Yes, you read that right — they were using an alleged assassin’s face to sell family matching outfits.

After several news outlets and viral X account Pop Crave picked up the story, Shein issued their standard damage control statement:

“The image in question was provided by a third-party vendor and was removed immediately upon discovery. We have stringent standards for all listings on our platform. We are conducting a thorough investigation, strengthening our monitoring processes, and will take appropriate action against the vendor in line with our policies.”

Well, PR statement, but frankly, probably true — if you know anything about Shein, then you know how plausible their story is. Shein isn’t so much a fashion brand as it is a supply chain fever dream. Through their marketplace platform, they’ve created an ecosystem where thousands of suppliers list products directly, turning fashion retail into a high-speed fast fashion railway. As the BBC described it, Shein represents not a brand but a supply chain strategy — one where AI determines trends in real-time, factories pump out micro-batches based on social media engagement, and individual vendors throw whatever they think will sell against the digital wall. They’re not designing clothes; they’re weaponizing data science against your credit card. Even as someone who loves capitalism — Shein is something else. It’s practically sci-fi.

But whether this was an oversight, deliberate provocation, or culturally insensitive exploitation of someone’s popularity, there’s a massive cult of Luigi Mangione in China that Western media has largely ignored.