In front of her smartphone screen and her ring lamp, Marion Moritz strings together poses and outfits, like a 2.0 top model. A blue skirt at 8.49 euros succeeds a very chic evening dress, barely 19.99 euros. Then a top-skirt set at 12.99 euros. All excluding promotions. Several times a month, the student exhibits for her 50,000 subscribers a series of clothes offered by the Chinese brand Shein. Marion is one of the hundreds of muses that the firm has, willing to provide it with a fragment of its collection in exchange for the visibility it gives it on the TikTok social network.
Shein, the name probably doesn’t speak to people over 30. But among 18-25 year olds, it has been a must for two years, and has given the giants of the sector a lot of age, Zara and H&M in the lead. Until 2020, the notoriety of the Chinese online clothing site founded in 2008 did not however exceed a small circle of insiders. Surfing on the waves of successive confinements and the explosion of digital channels, it is today the third most powerful unlisted group in the world, with a valuation of 100 billion dollars. Its turnover would have approached 16 billion dollars last year, according to Reuters. Almost as much as the H&M juggernaut.
A 100% digital store at bargain prices
The recipe for success: prices that defy all competition, first. To afford the dress that Marion Moritz wears on her videos, count a bill multiplied by two or three, at the very least, among rivals. “The price remains the main driver of the act of purchase”, recalls Thomas Delattre, professor of consumer behavior at the French Institute of Fashion, in Paris. If Shein manages to offer such low prices, it is in particular that it was the first fashion group to bet on 100% digital, and does not have to assume the rents of the shops and the salaries of the sellers who go with.
The lack of visibility linked to the absence of points of sale, Shein largely compensates for it with ambassadors by flooding social networks, as well as in digital advertising. The company also scrutinizes the slightest rising trends to offer new pieces. It’s his trademark. The frequency of renewal of collections is even faster there than elsewhere, almost continuously: this is what is called “ultra fast fashion”. A report by Public Eye, an independent association, reveals that the manufacturing cycle – from design to packaging – for Shein would be one week compared to at least three for the behemoths of so-called “classic” fast fashion (Gap, Zara, H&M, etc.). A renewal bonus that makes its consumers addicted. “For two years that I have a salary, I spend about 300 euros every two months on Shein”, indicates Léa Boisserolle, a young 21-year-old veterinary assistant.
Still, this success raises questions. Far from standing out for its environmental and social record, Shein is making a model that was thought to be outdated flourish. Through its constantly updated collections, the Chinese company is no stranger to the massive proliferation of fabrics in our Western wardrobes. On average, a European consumes 26 kilos of textiles per year and throws away around 11 kilos. Of those that are thrown away, 87% are incinerated or landfilled. Regarding Shein, the suppliers are also exclusively Chinese, which implies a very substantial carbon footprint both to produce and to transport the clothes from Asia to Europe or to the United States. The materials used are not trivial either. To reduce costs, Shein favors viscose and especially polyester, a petroleum derivative. From product design to end of life, including the pollution generated during washing during which clothes release microplastics, clothing is a major source of pollution. The sector is also the main polluter of the oceans according to the United States Geological Survey, as well as one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases, with a volume annual which exceeds maritime and air transport combined, according to Ademe.
A youth torn between ecological awareness and a taste for fashion
We asked Marion Moritz, the influencer who collaborates with Shein, what she thinks about the environmental cost of the products she promotes. Uncomfortable, she says “not knowing what to think about it”. And emphasizes reselling the clothes she no longer wears on the Vinted application, a second-hand platform. Emily Tafakourt, a 22-year-old student, started buying on Shein shortly before confinement. She explains: “I am sensitive to the environmental aspect and even to the ethical dimension of my purchase, but I have to deal with my budget… Buying there is the best option.” Léa Boisserolle, the veterinary assistant, completes: “I pay attention to my movements, to sort the waste, but for the clothes, it’s not easy to do the same. I don’t have a shop at these prices. from home,” she says. Before adding: “If I make large orders, it is also to avoid multiplying the transport.”
The budgetary constraint sometimes leads to a dissonance between the ethics of the consumer and the reality of his purchase. The reminiscence of a fight between the end of the world and the end of the month which is not specific to generation Z but which concerns all age groups. For Thomas Delattre, it should also be noted that the “Greta generation” is “far from being homogeneous and sensitized in the same way to the issue of climate change”. An Ipsos study published in November 2021 indicates that 47% of young people between the ages of 18 and 35 believe that the reality of global warming has not been scientifically demonstrated. For them, the question of Shein’s carbon footprint does not even arise.