Fast-fashion retailer posts £2.58 billion in UK revenue as British shoppers discover buying an entirely new wardrobe costs less than washing the old one
LONDON - The British fashion industry has reached a historic milestone after discovering that consumers no longer need clothes to last an entire season, or even the delivery process, before buying replacements.
Online fast-fashion retailer Shein increased revenue at its UK division by 26% to £2.58 billion, ahead of the £2.47 billion annual sales figure reported by British rival Asos, according to The Guardian. Asos's figure includes international sales, so the two measures are not directly comparable.
The results show the extraordinary commercial success of an industry devoted to persuading customers that a garment bought last Wednesday has become socially unacceptable by Friday.
Fast Fashion UK: British Shoppers Discover Trends Now Expire Faster Than Milk
For generations British shoppers bought clothing in the expectation that it would stay wearable for several years. A winter coat was a long-term investment. A good pair of shoes could survive several seasons, and a reasonably durable jumper might eventually pass from one family member to another.
Modern fast fashion has changed that relationship. Clothes are no longer simply garments but temporary declarations of personal identity, frequently obsolete before the customer has found a suitable occasion to wear them. A shopper can now buy six dresses for the price of an ordinary restaurant meal. The dresses may arrive in six separate parcels with enough packaging to build a small greenhouse. Jess Okafor, 27, a dental receptionist from Leeds, said she had photographed all six outfits, uploaded the pictures and found that a completely different collection had become fashionable while the images were processing.
The garments have not physically deteriorated. They have experienced social depreciation, which is a particularly efficient business model because clothing becomes outdated without the manufacturer having to wait for it to wear out.
Fashion Industry Discovers Customers Will Buy Anything Described as Limited Edition
The economic brilliance of fast fashion lies in combining low prices, enormous choice and continuous marketing. Customers meet hundreds of new styles, personalised recommendations and discounts suggesting that failing to buy something immediately would be a serious financial mistake. A £7 blouse becomes a bargain. A second blouse qualifies for a discount, and three more garments unlock free shipping. By checkout the shopper has spent £64 to avoid wasting £4 on delivery.
Retail economists traditionally describe purchasing decisions in terms of consumer preferences, income and price sensitivity. Fast-fashion retailers have added another variable, which is the psychological horror of failing to claim a discount that expires in eleven minutes. The result is a commercial environment in which consumers feel financially responsible for buying more than they originally wanted. Some eventually discover that the most expensive item in their wardrobe is the collection of inexpensive items they never wear. Asos and Shein both publish corporate results for anyone wishing to see how the shopping is going.
UK Low-Value Import Exemption: Imported Clothes Arrive Without Paying Certain Import Duties
Shein's business model also benefits from Britain's current customs arrangements. Under the UK's low-value import exemption, eligible parcels worth £135 or less can enter without customs duty. The government has announced plans to remove the exemption by 2028, while domestic retailers argue that reform should come sooner. HM Revenue and Customs administers the arrangements and has not yet been asked how many parcels fit in a small greenhouse.
The arrangement raises an interesting competitive question. British retailers with shops, warehouses and domestic distribution networks face substantial costs. Overseas sellers can draw on different supply chains and import arrangements, which lets them compete aggressively on price. Consumers understandably appreciate inexpensive products, and domestic businesses understandably ask whether the competition takes place on equal terms. The Treasury, meanwhile, has found another opportunity to look at something inexpensive and consider making it more expensive.
Environmental Campaigners Warn Cheap Clothes Are Becoming Expensive for the Planet
The industry's environmental impact creates another contradiction. Consumers are regularly encouraged to cut waste, recycle materials and reduce their carbon footprint. At the same time, retail marketing encourages them to buy new clothes whenever a celebrity changes trousers. A household might conscientiously separate cardboard, recycle plastic bottles and avoid unnecessary car journeys, only to receive fourteen clothing parcels in the same week. Organisations such as WRAP and Fashion Revolution campaign on textile waste and on the conditions in which garments are made.
Fast fashion also raises serious questions about supplier conditions, labour standards and the environmental cost of producing vast quantities of low-cost garments. Shein says it has strengthened supplier oversight and audits, while scrutiny of its practices continues.
The practical solution is neither mysterious nor glamorous. Buy garments that will actually be worn, consider durability alongside price, and resist treating every online discount as a personal summons from the fashion industry. Unfortunately, recommending that consumers buy fewer clothes threatens the central commercial principle of modern fashion, which is convincing people that their perfectly serviceable wardrobe has become a humanitarian emergency.
Britain's clothing market has therefore achieved an impressive technological breakthrough. Manufacturers can now sell tomorrow's unwanted garments today, and by next Tuesday shoppers will be invited to replace them.
Five Humorous Observations
- You can buy six dresses for the price of a meal out. Then they show up in six different parcels. Six! Each in a box big enough to bury a pet.
- I spent £64 to avoid £4 postage. That's not savings, that's a very expensive way of saying I'm easily led.
- Limited edition. Limited to how many? All of them. All of them are limited.
- Trends expire faster than milk. I own a coat that's older than two of my friendships and it's still going.
- The discount ends in eleven minutes. I've never wanted anything as badly as I want to beat a countdown clock.
Satire: this is London satire based on the reporting linked above. Jess from Leeds, her six parcels and the reactions are invented, and all of them went out of style before this sentence finished. More funny news stories are available, with free delivery and no countdown clock. https://prat.uk/shein-overtakes-asos-in-britain-fashion-industry-announces-clothes-now-going-out-of-style-before-delivery-driver-leaves-warehouse/
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