{"id":189850,"date":"2025-06-16T20:23:10","date_gmt":"2025-06-16T20:23:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/189850\/"},"modified":"2025-06-16T20:23:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-16T20:23:10","slug":"sheins-donald-tang-defends-business-in-france-we-are-not-fast-fashion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/189850\/","title":{"rendered":"Shein’s Donald Tang Defends Business in France ‘We Are Not Fast Fashion’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tPARIS \u2014<\/strong> Just days after the French Senate voted to crack down on ultra-fast fashion<\/a>, Shein<\/a> executive chair Donald Tang took the stage at the VivaTech conference to defend the Chinese e-tailer\u2019s business model.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe are not fast fashion,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are a fashion-on-demand company.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSpeaking on stage, the panel opened confrontationally. Tang was told members of the French government and public consider him \u201cthe devil,\u201d and that his presence was \u201cnot welcome\u201d by many in the room. The executive deftly sidestepped the criticism.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cTwenty years ago, the devil used to wear Prada, but now, they start to wear Shein<\/a>,\u201d he joked.<\/p>\n

\n\tRather than following the traditional route of mass-producing designer-led collections or following trend forecasts, Shein uses consumer data to make production decisions, Tang said.<\/p>\n

\n\tEach product is launched in small quantities and only the most popular are reordered. This system, he argued, keeps unsold inventory to a minimum \u2014 claiming \u201cnearly zero\u201d leftover stock compared to the industry standard of 25 to 40 percent sitting unsold in warehouses.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe micro-produce the products you want us to manufacture,\u201d he said, insisting that the Shein data approach minimizes waste. While Tang acknowledged that low prices might fuel consumption \u201cit\u2019s not the norm,\u201d he claimed, citing Shein research that 60 percent of French consumers spend only about 200 euros a person annually on clothing, making waste impossible.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThese are the people, even if they want to throw things away, they won\u2019t be able to,\u201d he said. Those economics mean that Shein is democratizing style. \u201cOur mission is to make fashion accessible, available, and affordable to all,\u201d Tang said, adding that 95 percent of Shein\u2019s French customers live outside major cities.<\/p>\n

\n\tShein operates four warehouses in S\u00e3o Paulo, Brazil, and works with suppliers and subcontractors in Brazil and Turkey. In Europe, the company has warehouses in Poland and the U.K., and Tang indicated the company could invest in France<\/a>, particularly in circular\u00a0areas such as recycling infrastructure and resale.<\/p>\n

\n\tOn environmental impact, Tang conceded that the company needs to cut its carbon emissions on transport. \u201cAre we fast enough? Are we perfect? Of course not,\u201d he said, calling for cooperation between policymakers and industry players instead of legislation.<\/p>\n

\n\tWith both France<\/a> and the U.S. moving toward stronger regulations, with the ending of the de minimis rule in the U.S and possible taxation in France, Tang said that targeting Shein would ultimately hurt consumers. \u201cThe concern of the environment, protecthing consumers and evolving the industry [in France] is a very admirable and good goal,\u201d he said, but he added that penalizing Shein\u2019s data-driven production could result in \u201clower waste\u201d being punished while leaving consumers with fewer choices at higher prices in a tough economy.<\/p>\n

\n\tTang wrapped up the panel by acknowledging that his own suit was not Shein, but that his dog is always dressed fully head-to-tail in the company\u2019s wares.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Shein<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tA Shein exhibition during the China International Supply Chain Expo in Beijing.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJade Gao\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\t\tShein\u2019s Releases Its Sustainability<\/a> Report Card<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n

\n\tMeanwhile, the company released its annual Sustainability<\/a> and Social Impact Report on June 14. While the report touts improvements in several areas, it also reveals growing carbon emissions that call into question Tang\u2019s claims.<\/p>\n

\n\tShein\u2019s transport-related emissions rose 13.7 percent year-over-year to 8.54 million metric tons of CO2, up from 7.49 million in 2023, largely due to increased reliance on air freight. This increase occurred despite Shein\u2019s stated commitment to optimizing logistics and shifting to lower-emission transport options.<\/p>\n

\n\tShein made modest progress reducing its own Scope 1 and 2 emissions, such as offices and logistics centers, primarily through the adoption of solar power. But the company confirmed that Scope 3 emissions from its 7,200 contracted suppliers and manufacturers are still by far the largest share of its footprint.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe majority of our emissions continue to occur beyond our direct operations,\u201d the report said, adding that \u201cnearly all\u201d of the company\u2019s carbon footprint is Scope 3.<\/p>\n

\n\tShein says it plans to reduce Scope 3 emissions by 25 percent by 2030, using 2023 as a baseline. However, the company emphasized that progress \u201cdepends entirely\u201d on whether its independent suppliers choose to implement upgrades without direct funding from Shein. The company said it focuses on \u201cencouraging\u201d partners to adopt more energy-efficient methods.<\/p>\n

\n\tWithin its own Scope 1 and 2 facilities, energy use increased 47 percent in 2024, as the company expanded warehouse and logistics capacity globally. The company said it is moving to more solar power to curb emissions from energy use.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe report also showed a shift in Shein\u2019s material sourcing. Polyester now accounts for 81.5 percent of all materials used, up from 75.7 percent in 2023. Meanwhile, cotton dropped from 9.9 to 6.7 percent, and viscose from 8 to 4.6 percent. Of the polyester used, only 6 percent is recycled.<\/p>\n

\n\tTo meet its sustainability goals, Shein is betting on growth in textile-to-textile recycling. The company said it is \u201cworking hard to ramp up textile-to-textile recycling capacities\u201d but that the majority of its recycled polyester now comes from PET plastic bottles.<\/p>\n

\n\tOn the waste-reduction front, Shein launched a fully automated fabric calculation system, designed to minimize excess in production. The company said it repurposed 40 tons of leftover fabric into tote bags and scrunchies, or downcycled into pipe insulation.<\/p>\n

\n\tStill, it acknowledged that recycling infrastructure remains \u201cnascent\u201d globally and that scaling circular fashion requires collaboration with other brands, policymakers and recyclers.<\/p>\n

\n\tShein emphasized the need for circular solutions, much of that focused on resale and secondhand sales of its own branded items. The company\u2019s Shein Exchange platform, launched in the U.S. in 2022, was rolled out to France, Germany, and the U.K. last year.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe addition of European territories boosted membership to 6.78 million users, up from 4.2 million in 2023. More than 297,000 secondhand items were listed by more than 148,000 unique sellers. In the newly added markets, usage rates ranged from 25 to 33 percent, the company said.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn Paris, Tang did not address \u201cdupe culture\u201d but said the company uses AI tools to detect and remove counterfeit items. In its report, Shein highlighted its Shein x Creator Program, which supports independent designers. The company said it paid $2.6 million in commissions to 5,300 creators in 2024, and $12 million total since the program launched in 2021. Participating designers retain their copyrights.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PARIS \u2014 Just days after the French Senate voted to crack down on ultra-fast fashion, Shein executive chair…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15821,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5309],"tags":[2000,299,36,8162,3695],"class_list":{"0":"post-189850","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-france","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-france","11":"tag-shein","12":"tag-sustainability"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114694914338671809","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189850"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189850\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}