Inside Shein: An investigative report on the fast fashion giant's system
Yao describes how Shein originally started in 2013 not as a fashion company, but as an IT company and search engine. Only years later did the company realise that it could use its knowledge of global trends to turn them into products using the new possibilities of digitalisation and artificial intelligence. This allowed for enormous increases in efficiency in fashion production in China. With its headquarters in Guangzhou, the long-standing mecca of fashion production in China, Shein was able to draw on a large number of local production facilities.
It also benefited from the fact that the golden years of textile production in China were gradually coming to an end due to rising land prices and wages, and many companies were gradually relocating to Southeast Asia. The small factories that did not want to emigrate were therefore desperately looking for new clients. Yao writes: "Shein's rapid rise and expansion is a last straw keeping factories alive in manufacturing clusters like Tangbu West Village." Commissioning of factories is fully automated
All Shein factories are connected to the Shein system and some produce exclusively for the fast fashion giant. "Which orders are assigned to individual factories, which deadlines are set, how everything works in detail - everything is decided by software. When a factory signs a cooperation agreement with Shein, the system assesses the first order based on the available lorries and workers, as well as comparable deliveries. The faster and better the order is completed, the better the next orders are; the more delays and quality defects, the more penalties are imposed. When a new order comes in, the software filters out the most suitable factory to assign the task," Yao continues. Immense speed in data-based product development
The design of new products is similarly automated and at an enormous pace. "In the first month, Lucy No. two (five of the respondents gave their name as Lucy, hence the numbering) had to develop 90 new models and produce design drawings, collaborate on clarifying copyrights, confirm sample templates and select photo shoots. At that time, she could still afford to arrive at the office at 10am and leave promptly at 6pm. One month later, 90 models became 200. After another two weeks, the 200 models had become 386," Yao describes the product development process. Around 5,000 new designs go into production at Shein every day, initially only as small series of 100 pieces, but if the products sell well, more are added. Copyright infringements are automatically checked
Since Shein relies almost exclusively on current fashion trends and best-selling products from other manufacturers, the risk of copyright lawsuits is high. Therefore, there is a separate department that deals only with this issue. Here, too, the software helps. Yao writes about Lucy No. one, who worked in this department: "The system pre-marks elements that may infringe copyright. For example, a T-shirt with a pattern that is eighty-five percent similar to a Gucci logo. However, the final judgement is made by a human because it is more reliable […]. The list of elements that infringe copyright comprised about 10,000 entries when she joined the company. Fourteen months later, there are already 70,000. They make up Shein's unique database, in which all experiences are stored."
Based on this information, the designers make slight changes to avoid infringing copyrights. "This activity is about finding a balance between speed and risk. Nothing can go wrong, but the review can't be too strict either, otherwise it slows things down." The employee Yao spoke with had to check around 800 products on a normal day. But it could also be more.
In summary, based on her interviews with former employees, the journalist describes a system in which digitalisation, automation and cost efficiency in clothing production have been taken to a new level. Collection development, creativity and innovation no longer play a role because the internet is used to evaluate in real time which products fashion customers worldwide want to buy at any given moment. At that moment, the only decisive factor is time, in order to launch the desired products on the market as quickly as possible. The fact that they are also unbeatably cheap further increases their attractiveness.
The article "China - Instant Fashion for the World: the Shein Machine" by Yinmi Yao appeared in Reportagen magazine #82. The issue is available as a print edition from Puntas Reportagen publishers in Bern and on reportagen.com. This article was translated to English using an AI tool.
FashionUnited uses AI language tools to speed up translating (news) articles and proofread the translations to improve the end result. This saves our human journalists time they can spend doing research and writing original articles. Articles translated with the help of AI are checked and edited by a human desk editor prior to going online. If you have questions or comments about this process email us at info@fashionunited.com
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