It should come as no surprise that businesses exist to make a profit. However, how they go about doing this is vital. If you want loyal and happy returning customers, you can’t make them feel like you’re ripping them off. It’s bad for everyone involved.

Mom Megan, aka @alwaysembarrassed, went viral on TikTok after calling out the practice of charging more for kids’ dance costumes. She vented after being asked by her daughter’s dance studio to pay $100 for a $10 costume from Shein, a company that is known for low-quality clothing. Scroll down for the full story.

Bored Panda has reached out to Megan via TikTok, and we’ll update the article as soon as we hear back from her.

Some dance studios charge parents extra for the costumes they order for the kids. However, in some cases, the prices are jaw-dropping

Image credits: Budgeron Bach/ pexels (not the actual photo)

One mom went viral on TikTok after being asked to pay a ludicrous amount of money for her daughter’s costume

Image credits: alwaysembarassed

Okay, I need dance teachers of TikTok to tell me if I am crazy or if my daughter’s dance studio is crazy. Okay, so we’re in recital season and she just brought home her costumes last week and I realized that they are from Shein.

Okay, there’s a number of problems with this. One: I would never shop from Shein or support Shein in any way. Two: for one costume, they charged me 10 times what they paid. For the other costume, they charged me five times what they paid. Like one of the costumes, they literally paid $9.50 and they charged me $100.

Image credits: alwaysembarassed

I obviously was like, what’s going on here? So I emailed them and I was like, ‘Can you please explain this to me? Why am I paying $100 for this flimsy piece of trash that you paid $9 from Shein for?’ And their response was that there are costs associated with measuring the girls, steaming the outfits, picking a costume that matches the vibe of the song, and hangers, and garment bags.

Now, let me clarify, the garment bags are literally clear trash bags that they put the costumes in for us to take them home. And so I feel like I am being scammed. But please tell me if that perception is wrong and if this is an accurate representation of what’s going on or is a common practice. My daughter has been dancing since she was little and I have never experienced this. Please, please weigh in because I need to know how nuclear I need to go.

You can watch her full video right over here

@alwaysembarassed Seriously, am I wrong to be mad about this!? #danceteachersoftiktok #danceteacher #dancelife #balletdancer #ballerinasoftiktok ♬ original sound – Megan

The mom was very respectful of the dance studio. Even though she didn’t agree with the practice of charging ten times more for costumes, she didn’t want to name the business itself. That makes a lot of sense.

For one, the video creator’s daughter really enjoys going to the studio and likes her teachers. If the mom were to name the business, it might get a lot of backlash. Especially seeing how viral the TikTok videos have gotten.

The popularity of the clips is also the reason why the mom refused to do a costume reveal. It could lead to a lot of privacy problems down the line.

Look, we get it, businesses need to make money so they can not just survive but also thrive. However, no matter how you spin things, charging a jaw-dropping 10 times more for a product is definitely the wrong thing to do.

Unless you’ve got endless cash to spare (who in this economy does?), you’re going to feel like someone’s ripping you off. Just because you charge more for clothing, it doesn’t make it magically higher quality. Shein doesn’t become luxurious when you change the price.

And just because a costume is meant for a children’s dance performance doesn’t automatically make it okay to charge the parents a ludicrous amount of money. Especially if it’s not altered in some way. At some point, you have to draw the line. The extra charge has to be common sense.

If it were any other product or service, many people would probably be outraged as well. Imagine if someone demanded that you pay 10 times more for your morning cup of coffee, a sandwich, or a run-of-the-mill apple. Or if your public transport prices soared the same amount while your dentist decided to jack up their prices even higher.

Image credits: Raysonho / wikipedia.org (not the actual photo)

Shein was worth a whopping $100 billion in 2022, according to Business Insider. However, the company’s labor practices and role in pollution have gotten it quite a bit of backlash.

In short, the fast fashion brand Shein is known for its incredibly cheap clothing. Because the goal is cheapness and quick production, it means that broadly speaking the quality of these clothes is also very low.

Time magazine writes that Shein has an unsustainable business model. According to the Synthetics Anonymous 2.0 report on fashion sustainability, the company creates as much carbon dioxide as around 180 coal-fired power plants, or 6.3 million tons of CO2 per year.

What’s your stance on Shein, dear Pandas? Have you ever had to overpay for costumes at a dance studio? What would you have done in the mom’s situation? We’d like to hear your thoughts on this, so if you have a moment, scroll down to the comment section to share yours.

Some TikTok users weighed in, suggesting that it’s reasonable for dance studios to charge more for costumes

However, other viewers were flabbergasted by this sort of approach and were shocked by the price

The mom shared an update after her initial video went viral

@alwaysembarassed Replying to @Roxane Not the tea some people might want, but I genuinly feel like I got my question answered! #danceteachersoftiktok #danceteacher #dancelife #balletdancer #ballerinasoftiktok ♬ original sound – Megan

She later posted another clip with additional info

@alwaysembarassed That’s all she wrote, friends. #danceteachersoftiktok #ballettok ♬ original sound – Megan

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