T-shirts for two euros. Dresses for eight euros. A pack of headbands for one euro coin. Chinese marketplaces (platforms) Shein, Temu And AliExpress They have been taking the European market by storm for years, especially the younger generations. This is the age of ultra-fast consumption: buying six identical t-shirts in different colors only to be thrown into a closet never worn. They are all produced in Europe under more than questionable conditions, at a production rate so monstrous that their applications can release 5,000 new references every day. France has taken the first step to put an end to ‘fast fashion’ with a proposed law that aims to ban advertising and regulate the environmentally offensive activities of these Asian platforms, and it may not be the last country to crack down on them. platforms. . So far, the measures implemented on European soil to combat pollution in the textile industry have not affected them, but this situation seems to make Shein and the company uneasy. Spainlike other European countries Preparing to follow the same steps as the French. They are currently making progress on implementing the Sustainable Consumption Act, which will penalize greenwashing practices, and it is anticipated that this will come into force before March 2026.
Although the French law is aimed at brands in the textile sector, the production model is similar in cases such as Aliexpress or Miravia. In the proposal of the Turkish Grand National Assembly, it is pointed out that digital stores should offer more than 1000 new products for sale every day in order to end the “gambling addiction” created by those who download their applications. If they don’t change their operations, They will have to pay a special fee for every product whose price could reach 10 euros in 2030 For every piece of clothing sold. Of course, it cannot exceed 50% of the sales price.
This measure caused panic on Chinese platforms, if not among consumers: “We show muscle at the European level, but as long as it does not exceed 50% of the price of the product. If a T-shirt is sold for two, “Euro will only be one euro more expensive,” recalls EAE Business Armando Salvador, a professor at the School who specializes in the Chinese textile market. The restriction on advertisements will also affect the accounts of these companies., because its business model is to attract customers through apps and aggressive discounts. “Temu has more misleading advertising because it plays with prices outside the market,” he adds.
Rapidly increasing growth
Chinese platforms took action Heavyweights that will show that they meet European sustainability criteria. Just a week ago, Shein launched a sustainable denim collection with water-saving technology. He last talked about sustainability in May 2022, when he announced a sustainable clothing line made from recycled polyester. Temu’s commitment to the environment, as stated on its website, is to plant 5.1 million trees in sub-Saharan African countries to capture emitted CO2. Neither Aliexpress nor Miravia have tried to improve their image, at least for the record.
Since their arrival on the Spanish market, the presence of these marketplaces has attracted more and more attention. In five years, The number of Shein customers in Spain increased from 500,000 to over 5 million, with average ticket prices reaching 50 eurosAt Zara it costs on average over 47 euros. Looking at the use of apps, 62% of consumers in the fashion industry used the Chinese platform’s app in 2023, above Vinted (38%). The firm is valued at $92 billion and expects to go public on Wall Street or London in the coming months. In the case of Aliexpress, orders are increasing by 60% every year. Temu and Miravia arrived in the country a year ago, but their success is already evident: they occupy first and fourth places in the list of the most downloaded applications in Spain.
None of the four firms publish sales or revenue figures, but some estimates from the Financial Times show that: Shein achieved a turnover of 21 billion euros In 2022, it made a profit of 730 million euros. In the same year, Inditex closed the fiscal year with a turnover of 32 billion 569 million euros and a profit of 4 billion 130 million euros. A year ago, Spain became Aliexpress’s second main market after Russia. And Temu represents close to 17% of market share in the United States, just one year after its launch in that country.
Sustainability by flag
The fashion industry is the biggest polluter on the planet, and fast fashion brands like Shein aren’t helping due to the use of harmful chemicals in their factories, the production of microplastics and CO2 emissions from unlimited production. To overcome this problem, The European Union has for years been outlining regulations restricting business models that encourage overconsumption. The most important of these is the European Green Deal, presented in 2019 with the promise of achieving climate neutrality by 2050. This was followed by the March 2020 Circular Economy Plan and the 2022 European Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles, but has not yet been implemented. until 2023, when the results begin to be seen. In March last year, the Ecological Claims Directive came into force, requiring companies to prove the accuracy of the “green” messages they include in their communications and on the labels of their products.
Therefore, subject to European regulations, More regulatory efforts expected in Spain. “Regulatory measures at the national level that strengthen those taken at the European level are to be expected,” explains ESIC University professor Ana Gómez. “This tax will be transferred first to Europe, then to all European countries, and then to ‘fast fashion’ clothing, because even the market does not have the capacity to absorb all the clothing produced,” says the CEO. sustainable textile company Ecodicta Raúl González. France pioneered other textile sustainability regulations, such as the ban on incinerating textile waste, which was repeated in the European Parliament and has reached other member states.
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In the example of Spain, the Ministry of Social Rights, Consumption and Agenda 2030 started the work on the Sustainable Consumption Law with the first hearing process in order to accelerate the process. “We have even completed the formal approval of some rules at Union level,” they said, adding that they were making progress in incorporating them into internal regulations, “so that all relevant representatives and parties will have sufficient time to incorporate them.” to its own internal processes”. By abusing labels such as “good for nature”, “ecological”, which cannot be proven, sanctions reach 100,000 euros in extreme cases. At the same time, companies that genuinely invest in reducing the environmental impact of their production and business processes will also benefit.
Is this the end of Chinese platforms in Europe? “Perhaps this could be a turning point where it becomes increasingly difficult for companies to find legitimacy to sustain their business models,” says Gómez, but in his opinion, the education efforts of these brands should start with themselves. “The question lies in whether downsizing is an option,” he notes. According to González, it is not that easy, because these are technology companies that connect supply and demand in almost real time and with pre-sales, so it depends on the consumer: “If they demand ultra-cheap clothes, Shein will make ultra-cheap clothes, if they demand more expensive sustainable clothes if they demand, “Shein will produce more expensive sustainable clothing.”