The system of the Chinese Ultra-Fast-Fashion provider Shein is as successful as it is controversial. On behalf of the Swiss magazine “Reports”, Chinese investigative journalist Yinmi Yao traveled to China to find out how the Shein system works and how the employees experience the company.
In her report “China – Instant Fashion for the World: The Shein machine” she tells in the May issue of the magazine reports about the experience of around 30 former Shein employees who asked them for their research. She became aware of her about her comments on Shein on social media and was able to win her for interviews. The company rejected an official way to talk to Shein about his working methods.
“Last straw” for textile production in China
Yao describes how Shein originally did not start as a fashion, but as an IT company and search engine. It was only years later that the company realized that it could implement its knowledge about worldwide trends with the help of the new possibilities of digitization and artificial intelligence into products and that enormous increases in efficiency in fashion production in China could enable enormous increases in efficiency. With his headquarters in Guangzhou, the long -time Mecca of fashion production in China, Shein was able to fall back on a variety of production facilities on site. It also benefited from the fact that the golden years of textile production in China gradually came to an end due to increased property prices and wages and many companies were gradually relocated to Southeast Asia. The small factories that did not want to emigrate therefore searched for new clients. Yao writes: “The rapid rise and the expansion of Shein are a last straw that keeps the works in factory agglomerations like Tangbu West Village alive.”
The factories are commissioned fully automatically
All Shein factories are connected to the Shein system and sometimes produce exclusively for the fast fashion giant. “Which orders are assigned to the individual factories, which deadlines are set, how everything goes in detail – everything is decided by software. If a factory signs a cooperation agreement with Shein, the system measures the first order based on the available trucks and workers: inside and comparable deliveries. The faster and better the order is done, the better the next orders and quality deficiencies, the more delays, the more delays, the more delays and quality. The more punishments are imposed.
Immense pace in data -based product development
The design of new products is similarly automated and at an enormous pace. “In the first month Lucy had to [Fünf der Befragten gaben sich den Namen Lucy, daher die Nummerierung] Develop ninety new models and make design drawings, when clarifying copyrights, confirm sample templates and select photo shoots. At that time she could still afford to appear in the office at 10 a.m. and leave it on time at 6 p.m. A month later, 90 models became 200. After another two weeks, 386 had become 386, ”Yao describes the process of product development. Around 5,000 new designs go into production at Shein per day, initially only as a small series of 100 pieces, but if the products sell well, it will be added.
Copyright violations are automatically checked
Since Shein is based almost exclusively on current fashion trends and bestseller products from other manufacturers, the risk of copyright lawsuits is great. Therefore, there is a separate department that only deals with this topic. The software also helps here. Yao writes about Lucy No. 1, which was employed in this department: “The system marks elements in advance that may violate a copyright. For example, a T-shirt with a pattern that is 85 percent similar to a Gucci logo. However, the last judgment is more important because it is reliable, a person […]. The list of elements that violate a copyright included around 10,000 entries when entering the company. 14 months later there are already 70,000. They make Sheins unique database, in which all experiences are stored. “
Based on this information, the designers make slight changes inside so as not to violate copyrights. “This activity is about finding a balance between speed and risk. Nothing can go wrong, but the check must not be too strict, otherwise the pace will slow down.” The employee, with whom Yao had spoken, had to check around 800 products on a normal day. But it could also be more.
In summary, the journalist describes a system based on her interviews with former employees in which digitization, automation and cost efficiency in clothing production was lifted to a new stage. Collection structure, creativity and innovation no longer play a role because it is evaluated in real time via the Internet which products Modekund: I want to buy in the world. At that moment, the time alone is crucial to throw the desired products onto the market as soon as possible. The fact that they are also unbeatably cheap increases their attractiveness.
The article “China – Instant Fashion for the World: The Shein Machine” by Yinmi Yao was published in Magazine Reports #82. The edition is available as a print edition from Puntas Verlag reports in Bern and on Reportagen.com.
Link as box in red