With the increasingly personalized and diversified consumer demand, SHEIN, the world's leading fashion retailer, has successfully solved the problem of imbalance between supply and demand in the apparel industry with its forward-looking business model and firm commitment to sustainable development, leading a transformation and upgrading from "Made in China" to "Intelligent in China".
Shein's emphasis on ESG (Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance) is not only because it is committed to becoming a model for Chinese companies to go global, but also based on the sustainable development of its own brand and chain ecology, and practices the long-term development path.
In the ever-changing garment industry, how to grasp the two ends of demand and production, and do a good job in inventory management is a key problem. In response to this challenge, the "small single quick reaction" chain model proposed by SHEIN innovation starts with a very small MOQ of 100-200 pieces, compared with the MOQ of tens of thousands of other clothing brands, and the production and sales planned two or three quarters in advance, SHEIN's innovative way of "sales and production" solves the problem of inventory backlog from the source, realizes efficient turnover and cost control, and reduces product prices, thus forming a win-win virtuous circle for consumers and enterprises. At the same time, it also has a positive impact on environmental protection.
SHEIN's pursuit of sustainable development is not only reflected in the "small single quick response" model, but also runs through all aspects of daily operations. On the production side, in addition to reducing waste through "small orders and quick reactions", SHEIN also teamed up with Queen of Raw to use the patented software Materia MX to convert the backlog of inventory fabrics of other brands into production raw materials, effectively preventing textile waste from landfilling. In 2022, SHEIN launched the EvoluShein environmental protection series, which uses the best material "recycled polyester fiber" extracted from plastic waste, to achieve the goal of reducing carbon emissions and saving water resources.
In addition, SHEIN uses recycled plastic express bags in the packaging process, and promotes digital heat transfer technology to replace traditional screen printing, which greatly reduces water consumption. As of 2022, more than half of the products have been digitally printed, saving 590,000 tons of water in four years, which is equivalent to about 11800 million bottles of 500 ml bottled water. SHEIN also actively promotes green energy, such as the launch of rooftop photovoltaic in the western smart industrial park of the Shein Bay Area, which is expected to reduce carbon emissions by more than 10,000 tons per year, and this initiative has been promoted to a number of warehouses and first-class commercial factories, driving the transformation of the whole industry chain to green energy.
Looking back on the development process, SHEIN not only acts as a partner of the first chain, but also a change leader and enabler of the industry. In the past decade, SHEIN has relied on its own technology and experience to promote the transformation of traditional clothing manufacturers into digital factories with a full process and full chain. By providing digital tools, standards and methods, real-time synchronization and flow of information flow are realized, which greatly improves the efficiency of the industry. In the first half of 2023, SHEIN will increase investment again, announcing an investment of 500 million yuan in 5 years to continue to deepen the empowerment of first-class businessmen, and set up the first garment manufacturing innovation center to focus on the output of flexible first-chain standards. By integrating the concepts of on-demand production and lean production, we provide lean production solutions for the global business community and strongly promote industrial upgrading.
SHEIN has also made great efforts to improve the comprehensive capacity of the factory, through full-link training covering operation management, business and technology, as well as national vocational skill level recognition, comprehensively cultivating outstanding technical and management talents required by the industry, and specially setting up a garment industry worker on-the-job skills training base for the central and western regions to deliver technical strength for rural revitalization.
As of the end of 2023, SHEIN has helped more than 130 first-class businesses complete the transformation and upgrading of 430,000 square meters of factory buildings, benefiting 220,000 people. At the same time, SHEIN has spared no effort in factory facilities and public welfare, investing in improving canteens, dormitories and leisure facilities, subsidizing families in need through the "Starlight Project", and building children's homes to provide caring services for employees' children, demonstrating the company's humanistic care and social responsibility.
In the past three years, SHEIN has invested more than $55 million to help designers and artists in more than 20 countries around the world achieve commercial success and promote innovation and talent development in the fashion industry. Behind these figures, there are warm stories full of human touch, which also reflect the pattern and mind of SHEIN as an enterprise.
SHEIN is standing at a global level, driving the sustainable development of the entire ecosystem from the inside out with a comprehensive perspective. From the "small single quick reaction" model throughout the product life cycle to the selection and reuse of environmentally friendly raw materials, SHEIN has deeply embedded the ESG concept into its brand DNA, which has set a new benchmark for the sustainable development of Chinese enterprises going overseas, and also provided a successful example for the global fashion industry to learn from.