Friday, the Fast fashion giant Shein has completed the purchase of Everlane, the US clothing retailer that made a name for itself by promising “great transparency” in how its clothes are made. Neither company has disclosed the price, but Puck reported last weekend that it was in the $100 million range.
Founded in 2010, Everlane became a kind of millennial consumerism that was supposed to be the exact opposite of Shein. It mainly sells high-end basics, and it told a generation of concerned and high-minded consumers that they can feel moral about buying more flat ballet flats or high-waisted black jeans. Shein, by contrast, gained notoriety for flooding the internet with ridiculously cheap, mass-produced trendy clothing. It has been criticized for years for alleged inefficiency of the staff.
Given how Shein and Everlane positioned themselves differently, many people on the Internet felt that the acquisition fell somewhere between sad dystopian and downright dystopian. Fashion writer Derek Guy, better known online as “the menswear guy,” expressed the vibe in a post on X: “Under Shein,” he wrote, “‘Everlane’s big exposure means you’re learning about the little kid who made your boring gray sweater.
In fact, though, the deal makes perfect sense. In time, it may end up looking like a preview of where Chinese consumer companies are headed next.
China’s ecommerce giants conquered the global market by selling cheap products at an eye-watering rate. Companies like Shein and Temu succeeded in part because of the “de minimis” loophole, a US trade law that allowed packages worth less than $800 to enter the country duty-free and with minimal customs scrutiny. That system became the backbone of a new era of cross-border ecommerce, allowing Chinese companies to ship cheap goods directly to American consumers faster and more efficiently than most traditional retailers could manage.
But after US president Donald Trump imposed new tariffs on Chinese imports and ended de minimis exemptions, the economy that underpinned that model began to falter. Chinese companies soon realized that they could no longer rely solely on Western markets that were flooded with low-priced products. If they wanted to continue growing internationally, they needed something long-lasting: a good old-fashioned brand.
Shein’s purchase of Everlane, though culturally anathema, is part of a broader trend that has taken place across China in trade and manufacturing. Increasingly, Chinese companies are trying to move beyond anonymous low-cost production and own global brands associated with quality, lifestyle, and status.
One of the clearest examples comes from Temu’s parent company, Pinduoduo. In March, the company announced a new initiative called New PinMu, a multibillion-dollar effort designed to help Chinese manufacturers create leading international brands. The project is part of a larger strategic vision outlined by Pinduoduo co-CEO Jiazhen Zhao, who has been promoting the company’s ambitions to raise production levels and create ways for Chinese factories to move up the value chain.
Meanwhile, Luckin Coffee, the Chinese coffee chain that has become Starbucks’ biggest rival, recently acquired Blue Bottle, the specialty coffee brand that helped define America’s third-wave coffee culture. Anta Sports, a Chinese sportswear giant that started largely as a domestic sneaker company, has spent years acquiring the world’s leading sportswear brands, including controlling stakes in Arc’teryx and Salomon.
The trend also reflects broader political pressure within China. The government has been critical of the brutal price wars and intense competition that dominate industries such as e-commerce and electric cars, a phenomenon often referred to as “revolution.” Beijing now wants companies to focus more on sustainable growth, high productivity, and global competitiveness than on the endless race to the bottom.
