Britain’s Boohoo, China’s SHEIN and Hong Kong’s Emmiol operate the same Internet-based business model — producing items and collections at breakneck speed and low prices.
So-called “ultra-fast fashion” has won legions of young, trend-setting fans who churn out relatively cheap clothes online amid soaring inflation, but the booming genre masks darker environmental problems.
Britain’s Boohoo, China’s SHEIN and Hong Kong’s Emmiol operate the same internet-based business model – producing items and collections at breakneck speed and low prices.
They are giving strong competition to the most popular fast fashion chains with brick-and-mortar stores, such as Sweden’s H&M and Spain’s Zara.
Young people under the age of 25 – popularly known as Generation Z – like to place multiple orders for ultra-fast fashion, which then arrives in the mail.
“Consequences for the Planet”
However, Greenpeace has criticized the “discarded clothing” phenomenon as extremely wasteful, arguing that it takes 2,700 liters of water to make a quick-close T-shirt.
“Many of these cheap clothes end up… in large landfills, burned in open fires, along riverbeds and washed into the sea, with dire consequences for people and the planet,” the green pressure group says.
Photos of mountains of scantily clad clothing, returned to the retailer or thrown away shortly after purchase, have gone viral, highlighting the vast amount of waste.
Demand for off-price clothing has however grown due to decades of high inflation, while many high street shops hit by the high costs of the COVID-19 struggle to compete.
And it’s wildly popular: SHEIN generated $16 billion in global sales last year, Bloomberg says.
The mirage of freedom
Customers buy tops for £4.0 ($4.80), while bikinis and dresses sell for just £8.0 each.
For French high school student Lola, 18, who lives in the city of Nancy, SHEIN shopping has become a free hobby.
The brand simply allows her to follow the latest trends “without spending an astronomical amount,” she told AFP, not knowing the environmental cost.
Lola typically places two to three orders a month on SHEIN with an average combined value of 70 euros ($71) for about 10 items.
Ultra-fast fashion’s new target demographic—like Lola—simply has less money to spend.
These consumers are therefore “looking for quantity rather than quality” of clothing, according to economics professor Valerie Guillard at Paris-Dauphine University.
SHEIN, which was founded in late 2008, now sells worldwide helped by its massive presence on social media networks.
‘Haul’ video
Customers post so-called “haul” videos online – where they open SHEIN packages, try on clothes and review them.
This has increased its popularity on TikTok, which is favored by teenagers and young adults, while there are also such videos on Instagram and YouTube.
On TikTok alone, there are 34.4 billion mentions of the hashtag #SHEIN and six billion for #SHEINhaul.
Brands expand their reach through low-cost partnerships with large numbers of people on social media to build trust and increase sales.
Irish social media influencer Marleen Gallagher, 45, who works with SHEIN and other brands, praised them for offering a wider range of sizes than mainstream stores.
“They are unmatched when it comes to choices for plus-size women,” she told AFP.
Climate emergency
However, the industry has a reputation for gobbling up valuable resources and damaging the environment.
Ultra-fast fashion companies have also been plagued by scandals over allegedly poor working conditions in their factories.
Switzerland-based NGO Public Eye revealed in November 2022 that workers at some SHEIN factories were working up to 75 hours a week, in violation of Chinese labor laws.
Britain’s Boohoo also faced criticism after media reports that its suppliers were underpaying workers in Pakistan.
Adding to the picture, the French Agency for Ecological Transition estimates that fast fashion accounts for two percent of global greenhouse emissions per year.
That’s as much as air transport and sea traffic combined.
The genre has meanwhile drawn the ire of climate activist Greta Thunberg.
“The fashion industry is a major contributor to the climate and ecological emergency, not to mention its impact on the countless workers and communities that are being exploited around the world so that some can enjoy the fast fashion that many treat as disposable. ,” Thunberg wrote. last year, looking for change.
Consumers must cut new clothes purchases by 75% to make wardrobes sustainable
© 2022 AFP
citation: Ultra-fast fashion charms young despite harmful environment (2022, July 29) retrieved July 29, 2022 from https://phys.org/news/2022-07-ultra-fast-fashion-charms-young-environment .html
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