A look inside the fast-paced, ultra-cheap throwaway fashion industry of China

A file picture showing a shopper at the Shein pop-up store in New York. Photo: Bloomberg

Loved by Gen-Z shoppers for its ultra-cheap throwaway fashion-and held up as a pariah by sustainability experts for exactly the same reason – Shein’s impact on global consumers over the past couple of years is indisputable.

Behind the scenes, the Chinese retailer’s influence on manufacturing has been just as seismic.