School children buying knives from Chinese fast-fashion site SHEIN for as little as £1

9 September 2024, 18:11 | Updated: 9 September 2024, 18:55

LBC has found school children have been able to buy knives from online retailer SHEIN for as little as one pound.

Blades can be bought from the Chinese fashion giant’s website within seconds, without any age checks, but a shocking loophole means the knives are legal to sell to anyone.

Dozens of deadly weapons are available to buy from the fast-fashion site, with one customer review even stating “super cute for school!!!!”.

It’s illegal to sell knives to under 18s in the UK, but not if the blade is less than 3 inches long.

Paul Smith’s 13-year-old niece got hold of a pink folding knife for £1.50, which he believes was deliberately designed for young girls due to its colour.

He told LBC: “I couldn’t believe it. I think if she hadn’t spotted a pink one she would have been less likely to buy it.

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“She also bought a pink balaclava and she claims it’s part of her Halloween costume, which is even more concerning.”

Mr Smith told LBC his niece had seen videos of so-called ‘Ultras’ in Glasgow, which he believes encouraged her to buy the weapon.

Children are buying knives from fast fashion brand for ‘as little as £1’

“She saw videos on X over the weekend of these thugs in Glasgow who were all wearing black and purple balaclavas.

“She’s spotted this on social media, and on Snapchat and thought ‘that’s quite cool, it must be a trend’, and has gone and bought a balaclava and a knife”, he said.

LBC has also successfully purchased the same blade from SHEIN and was able to check out in seconds with no age verification.

It has 500+ reviews, with another customer saying “my daughter saw it and fell in love”.

Another reviewer said: “This is such good quality yall. Didn’t expect much but it’s great!! Get it ladies”

“It’s horrifying – you always wonder where teenagers are getting these knives from, and assume it’s their kitchen, but they’re probably getting them off SHEIN and other websites”, Mr Smith said.

“I think more needs to be done to regulate these websites to make sure these knives aren’t getting in to the hands of kids”, he added.

It comes as Sir Keir Starmer warned blades are too easily available, as he chaired a summit at Downing Street to tackle knife crime.

The Prime Minister promised to “double down” on commitments made before the general election on tackling knife violence.

Actor Idris Elba told the summit “talk is good, but action is important” and said he hoped the work done by a coalition of organisations and campaigners could prevent younger generations being involved in knife crime.

The summit – hosted at 10 Downing Street – brought together community groups and victims’ families who have first-hand experience that can be used to change policy and legislation on the matter.

The coalition, which will include his Elba Hope Foundation, aims to halve knife crime over the next 10 years.

SHEIN has been contacted for comment.