No merchant is unaware of Amazon’s impact. That of Shein and its 7,000 new clothes put online every day, or of Temu, another Chinese giant in the online sale of products at low prices, frightens them just as much.
This trio is gaining market share. It now accounts for 4% of clothing sales in France and increases the influence of the Web on the clothing trade to more than 20%, according to a study published by the French Fashion Institute (IFM), Thursday 15 FEBRUARY.
These figures could provide grist for the mill for all those who wish to counter ultra-fast fashion in France. The women’s ready-to-wear federation has often pointed out the social failings of Shein and the environmental damage of its offering. The deputy Antoine Vermorel-Marques (Loire, Les Républicains) announced, Monday February 12, that he would table a bill to “fast fashion goes out of fashion with a bonus-malus system” and prohibit the advertising of its brands. The text would notably impose a “penalty of five euros per product for producers who introduce more than 1,000 new models per day”.
Thanks to this constantly renewed assortment model and rock-bottom prices, Shein and others appeal to those who, in these times of purchasing power constrained by inflation, want to buy new clothes without breaking the bank. This strategy allows them to escape the crisis that the fashion industry has been going through for around ten years.
Second hand
In 2023, taking into account inflation, the French have further reduced their purchases of shoes (- 4.9%), household linen (- 4.2%), lingerie (- 3.8%), women’s fashion (–1.5%) and children’s clothing (–0.5%). In total, the market fell by 4% in volume and 1.3% in value. “The sector has still not returned to the level of activity of 2019”underlines Gildas Minvielle, director of the IFM Economic Observatory.
In this market valued at 26.7 billion euros, many channels are facing bitter setbacks: hypermarkets, once a heavyweight in the sale of jeans and underwear, lost 7.7% of business in 2023 and almost 24% since 2019. Independent retailer stores have plunged by 3.7% and almost 19% since 2019. Only so-called mass-market chains, such as Kiabi or Gémo, studied by the IFM, have seen their turnover to increase by 2.3% in 2023 and by 10.8% over four years. Chains specializing in fashion suffer greatly from budgetary decisions. According to the Research Center for the Study and Observation of Living Conditions, 42% of French people give up purchasing clothes, in particular to protect their constrained expenses “housing and subscriptions to digital leisure activities”, note Xaxier Romatet, general director of the IFM.
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