The Shein empire surpasses Zara and H&M combined! Thanks to a new round of financing, it is now valued at $100 billion, making it the third most valuable start-up in the world. After fast fashion and ultra-fast fashion, Shein has just created a new segment: Real-time fashion, based on hyper-reactivity and low prices. A concept developed at the expense of the planet and its workers.
Fast fashion is designed to fit busy lives. Low prices invite minimal maintenance (it’s cheaper and quicker to throw a garment away than to wash and iron it), risk is low – or so it seems (buy in a hurry, without having to repent if the garment doesn’t fit), and convenience is unrivalled (swipe, click and answer the door). Added to this are thousands of affiliates and celebrities who capitalize on the imperative of being fashionable and the influence they have with millions of people on social networks.
The author of this article, Professor Dilys Williams, Director of the Centre for Sustainable Fashion at the London College of Fashion, insists that we must do away with the license to harm. The European Environment Agency has just announced a crackdown on fast fashion. Governments, universities and businesses will need to work together to meet our collective responsibility to protect our planet and our industry for future generations. Nothing less than radical change is needed to avoid 4°C warming. There’s no life, let alone fashion, in this world.
