It's time to talk about the elephant in the room. Shein has recently become the word's largest fast fashion retailer, making Zara look like slow fashion. I never thought I'd say the words 'Zara' and 'slow fashion' in the same sentence... This is clearly a serious problem we need to talk about.
The Shein app was downloaded 196 million times last year and now, its fast fashion sales are outperforming Amazon, Zara, H&M, ASOS and Boohoo. Shein has also reportedly told its investors that it plans to double its revenue by 2025, which is crazy. That's an absurd amount of fast fashion making its way out into the world, and most of it is the same price as an almond latte in Melbourne. If you can buy a dress for the same price as a coffee, what does that say about how it's made and what it's made with? I'll answer that for you - nothing good.
This is a big problem for fashion and an even bigger problem for the planet. It's time to roll up our sleeves and take a stand against fast fashion giants like Shein because our environmental clock is ticking.
There's no easy way to say this: fast fashion sucks. This is why...
Clothing production has doubled since the year 2000 but we're keeping clothing only half as long as we used to, and in the U.S alone, over 2000 pieces of clothing are thrown away every second.
We're throwing away clothing after an average of seven to ten wears, and two-thirds of all fashion is made with polyester, the world's dirtiest and deadliest fabric.
Over 95% of Shein's fast fashion is made from petroleum-derived synthetic fabrics like polyester, nylon or acrylic, and they're releasing an average of 1000 new styles every single day.
Every time polyester is washed, tiny plastic micro-fibers shed into the run-off water and make their way into our oceans, and fashion is now responsible for 35% of the plastic micro-fibers found in the ocean.
I could go on and on and on with facts and stats about the environmental impact of fast fashion, but what we all need to hear, are solutions. So what do I think? How do we solve the fast fashion crisis Shein has created and how do we slow fashion down?
Well, if you're running a fashion brand, it's time to make some big decisions. Ditch polyester and synthetic fabrics and switch to natural, biodegradable materials. You can also design more consciously too, and step back from the hustle and bustle of timed releases - no one needs something new from you every single week. Explore releasing an annual collection or a core collection of staples that people want to wear more than seven to ten times, and educate your customers on the positive impact of slow fashion.
You can also focus your energy on selling through the stock you already have, before you decide to make more, and I can help you do that here.
If we're going to change the future of fashion - and the future of the planet - we need to band together as sustainable fashion brands and we need to make an impact with our clothes. Because fashion isn't bad - fast fashion is bad. Slow fashion is world-changing, and we need to see more of that!
Claire x
