- Japan's former empress Michiko discharged after surgery: reports
- Japan's former empress Michiko discharged after surgey: reports
- 'Little Gregory' murder haunts France 40 years on
- Tariffs, tax cuts, energy: What is in Trump's economic plan?
- Amazon wants to be everything to everyone
- Jewish school in Canada hit by gunfire for second time
- With medical report Harris seeks to play health card against Trump
- China-EU EV tariff talks in Brussels end with 'major differences': Beijing
- Buried Nazi past haunts Athens on liberation anniversary
- Harris to release medical report confirming fitness for presidency: campaign
- Nobel prize a timely reminder, Hiroshima locals say
- China offers $325 bn in fiscal stimulus for ailing economy
- Small Quebec company dominates one part of NHL hockey: jerseys
- Boeing to cut 10% of workforce as it sees big Q3 loss
- Want to film in Paris? No sexism allowed
- US, European markets rise as investors weigh rates, earnings
- In Colombia, children trade plastic waste for school supplies
- JPMorgan Chase profits top estimates, bank sees 'resilient' US economy
- Little progress at key meet ahead of COP29 climate summit
- 'Party atmosphere': Skygazers treated to another aurora show
- Kyrgyzstan opens rare probe into glacier destruction
- European Mediterranean states discuss Middle East, migration
- Thunberg leads pro-Palestinian, climate protest in Milan
- Stock markets diverge before China weekend briefing
- EU questions shopping app Temu over illegal products risk
- Han Kang's books sell out in South Korea after Nobel win
- Shanghai markets sink ahead of briefing on mixed day for Asia
- Investors, analysts eye bigger China stimulus at Saturday briefing
- Musk unveils robotaxi, pledges it 'before 2027'
- At least 11 dead in Florida but Hurricane Milton not as bad as feared
- Asian markets mixed after Wall St drop, Shanghai dips before briefing
- Automaker Stellantis says CEO will retire in 2026
- Musk's promised robotaxi unveil delayed
- On US coast, wind power foes embrace 'Save the Whales' argument
- At least 10 dead in Florida after Hurricane Milton spawns tornadoes
- Internet Archive reels from 'catastrophic' cyberattack, data breach
- Wall Street stocks retreat from records on US inflation data
- Israel strikes central Beirut, killing 22
- Solar storm could impact US hurricane recovery efforts: agency
- Delta eyes Election Day travel pullback as profits climb
- Florida battered by hurricane, floods but spared 'worst-case scenario'
- UK's William and Kate in first joint public engagement since cancer treatment
- Over 200 women in legal talks with Harrods over Fayed abuse claims
- A very stiff breeze: BBC says sorry for 20,000 kph wind forecast
- Musk finally unveiling his long-promised robotaxi
- London's Frieze art fair goes potty for ceramics
- US, Europe stocks fall on US inflation data
- US consumer inflation eases to 2.4% in September
- Hurricane Milton tornadoes kill four in Florida amid rescue efforts
- South Korea's Han Kang wins literature Nobel
Chinese fast fashion giant Shein denies low prices due to forced labour
Chinese cut-price fast-fashion giant Shein defended its business model in an interview with AFP, saying demand-based production accounted for its low prices and not forced or cheap labour.
Founded in China in 2008, Shein has swiftly claimed a top place in the global fast-fashion marketplace, offering young social-media-savvy customers low-priced collections that turn over at a steady clip.
The Singapore-based firm's strategy chief Peter Pernot-Day told AFP that Shein is "an on-demand manufacturer... the global pioneer of this technology" during a visit to Paris to attend the opening of a Shein pop-up store.
Testing products with a small run and spooling up production if there was demand meant Shein has eliminated "inventory risk", Pernot-Day said, wiping out "the most significant component of garment cost".
Shein's sales rose 60 percent in 2021 to $16 billion worldwide, Bloomberg reported -- just behind Swedish high-street name H&M.
With 9,000 employees worldwide and counting, Shein has big plans for further expansion.
"It's important to have teams that are in the countries and geographies and regions where we are doing business," Pernot-Day said.
The "localisation" strategy includes building a 40,000-square-metre (430,000 square feet) new warehouse in Poland allowing faster deliveries to the European market.
"There will be more," he added.
Online, Shein plans to create a digital marketplace that will allow shoppers to buy other products from other brands through its platform.
Pernot-Day said the fashion and lifestyle shopping experience would resemble a "digital grand magasin", referring to Paris' swanky department stores.
- 'Still learning' -
But relentless expansion of sales and production is exactly what NGOs and some governments hold against Shein, saying its low costs cannot be compatible with fair treatment of labour or the environment.
Pernot-Day insisted that doing away with the risk of being left with unsold inventory and warehousing accounted for its ability to offer extremely low prices, such as T-Shirts for just 4.99 euros ($5.50).
"We are able to accurately measure... demand and only produce enough garments to meet that," he said.
Shein's efforts to green its image include a second-hand clothing business in the US, materials research and integrating recycled materials in its products.
While acknowledging "fair criticism" that its product pages offer consumers little detail about recycled content and other tracability factors, "we're trying to enhance how we describe and categorise our products," Pernot-Day said.
He insisted that Shein is "very connected digitally" with suppliers' information about sourcing.
The company carried out up to 300,000 chemical tests this year alone, Pernot-Day said, adding that it worked with Oritain, a product analysis firm that also works with the US government.
"We're still learning," he added. "The challenge is that we have a lot of suppliers, lots of products".
Pernot-Day also maintained that Shein has "no suppliers in Xinjiang" in northwestern China, where aid groups have accused it of using forced labour by Uyghur people.
US lawmakers recently asked the SEC financial watchdog to require an independent investigation into allegations of forced Uyghur labour at several brands including Shein.
But the company uses a US government forced labour blacklist "to look at our supply chain and understand whether or not the companies are in there," Pernot-Day said.
And when allegations are made of copied goods being sold on Shein, "if it is (proved), we remove it from sale, if not, we won't," he added, although "this is a difficult legal question".
"We've seen a reduction of the number of complaints against us" for intellectual property violations, Pernot-Day said.
Y.Uduike--CPN