Popular with under 20s, the Shein platform acts as an intermediary between Chinese ready-to-wear factories and Western teenagers. With a unique model that contributes massively to waste, explains Rest of World.
It’s the butterfly effect of a checkered sweater. Julia King, American influencer, lived her own experience of the globalization of ready-to-wear, tells Rest of World. Born in 2001, she spotted a sweater on social networks that reminded her of nostalgia for the 1990s. She found the model in thrift store, took a picture to sell it. “In the process” sur Depop, “Generation Z eBay”, then move on.
A few months later, the student discovers this same model of sweater, with a photo of her, available for purchase on several retail sites such as Amazon, AliExpress or Shein.
English-speaking media Rest of World investigated for six months the new ecosystem of “l’ultra fast fashion”. Calibrated by algorithms and a way of buying specific to a generation that knew the Internet from the cradle, the market is dominated by its most prosperous of its players, the Chinese online retailer Shein. This business with a hazy past targets teenage girls and twenties.
Growing up, this generation forged a sartorial style by drawing inspiration from sites like Instagram and Pinterest. ”
“Thanks to their English pages on social networks, [des milliers de fabricants chinois] have contributed [ces dix dernières années] accelerating trends and flooding wardrobes around the world with garments at rock bottom prices. ”
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