The race to the #fashion bottom is running full steam ahead.
🏪 SHEIN filed for its IPO in London and is not content selling around $40b of instant, super cheap fashion. It is now a marketplace selling brands including Coach, Free People (likely offered by retailers vs brands) Stuart Weitzman and Skechers on their site alongside overstock from other brands.
👕 In response to Shein and Temu, on his first week on the job, H&Ms new CEO Daniel Ervér pledged to invest more to speed the company’s responsiveness to new trends. And yet, the company’s shares dropped 14% on Thursday after missing targets. Earlier this month, Zara reported a slowdown in sales.
👗 In Shenzhen this week, Amazon announced plans to launch a budget store on its main site (Thanks to Jianlong Hu 胡剑龙 for the update). This was revealed during a closed-door meeting with Chinese sellers. Amazon outlined plans for a new section of their site devoted to selling “ultra low cost goods” shipped directly via air freight from warehouses in China to US consumers. Products would retail for less than $20 and would feature fashion, among other categories. This model would allow Amazon to skirt the de minimis rule. Amazon met recently with Chinese sellers to promote this new venture.
Instant fashion premised on “newness” and speed sells.
🛢️✈️🗑️🧑🏼🌾🎯 The result = more fossil fuel based synthetics + more disposable consumption + more air freight >> more CO2 emissions, more pressure on natural fiber farmers, more microplastic shedding, bigger landfills and a growing distance from the fashion industry’s collective sustainability targets.
While some brands (such as Patagonia, Cotopaxi, Reformation, Another Tomorrow, UNLESS Collective, ...) are dutifully committing to regenerative agriculture, investing in bio base materials and working to decarbonize logistics, these efforts get subsumed by the growth of instant fashion.
Instead of having its trade association lobby against a more #sustainable future, the fashion industry ought to advocate for new rules.
Maxine Bédat Leslie Johnston, M.Sc. Livia Giuggioli Firth Devon Rufo Evan Wiener Crispin Argento 🌍🕊✌🏽 Matt Powell Brett Mathews Jason Goldberg Sucharita Kodali Zofia Zwieglinska Sarah Kent Duncan Austin Eric Liedtke Samantha Taylor Rachel Arthur Joel Makower Heather Clancy Lutz Walter Danielle L. Vermeer Sydney Badger Paul Foulkes-Arellano Anne-Laure Descours Jenn Swain
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Omnichannel Order Management for Shopify Plus | Director, Product & Growth
1moExciting launch!