In 2022, Shein was valued by private investors at around US$100 billion, making it one of the world’s most valuable fashion companies.

This month, it went public in Hong Kong at a valuation of around US$27 billion — roughly 70 per cent below that 2022 peak. Its growth has also slowed: from 19 per cent in 2023 and 21 per cent in 2024, to eight per cent in 2025 and further again in 2026. Euronews questioned if it “signalled the death of ultra-fast fashion.”

There are plenty of reasons for that, from regulation and tariffs to investor scrutiny.

But there is also a bigger question worth asking: has the category that Shein helped build, evolved into something different?

How fast became ultra-fast

Fast fashion wasn’t new when Shein hit the market.

Zara and H&M had already changed the way people bought clothes, making trends available faster and at more accessible prices. The term fast fashion itself dates back to the early 1990s, when Zara’s model could take a garment from design to store in around 15 days.

Shein pushed that model much further.

Between July and December 2021, it was reportedly adding between 2,000 and 10,000 new products to its app every day. Small initial production runs allowed it to see what was selling, then quickly produce more of the winners.

The result was a clear category proposition: more choice, more often, at even lower prices. Shein came to define what became known as ultra-fast fashion.

But that category wasn’t created in isolation. It was enabled by a particular set of market conditions: global supply chains optimised for cost, access to low-cost production, inexpensive cross-border logistics and trade rules that made sending huge volumes of low-value parcels directly to consumers economically viable.

For years, those conditions supported the category, but recent conditions have changed.

The fast fashion fatigue

The US has removed the de minimis exemption that allowed low-value imports to enter without duties. Europe has introduced its own charge on low-value parcels.

France has gone one step further, with new legislation specifically targeting ultra-fast fashion, based partly on the volume of clothing a company puts onto the market and the cost of repairing a garment relative to its purchase price. The levy begins at different levels depending on the garment and can eventually reach €19.50 per item by 2030.

Also Read: Skate to where the puck will be: How category design gives you a breakaway

The characteristics that helped define the category are now becoming characteristics regulators use to identify and regulate it.

Environmental pressure adds a further layer.

Fast fashion’s model depends on high production volumes and short product cycles, with significant consequences for water, emissions and textile waste. Earth.Org estimates that 85 per cent of textiles end up in landfill each year, while synthetic textiles are also a major source of ocean microplastics.

These aren’t new problems — what’s changing is how difficult they are becoming for companies to treat as external to the business model. Regulation, trade policy and supply-chain scrutiny are increasingly turning them into questions of cost, compliance and competitiveness.

Then there is the customer.

People haven’t stopped wanting affordable clothes, but the consumer mindset that built the category is shifting.

Fast fashion solved a clear problem: more choice, more trends, at prices that made it possible to keep buying. Now, there are signs of fatigue with that cycle. Consumers are becoming more selective, with greater emphasis on quality, durability and value-per-wear over constant newness. The New York Times noted this shift in mindset as: ‘Buy Better, Buy less, Feel Smug About It.’

If consumers start valuing better over more, the advantage fast fashion was built around becomes less valuable. The opportunity is no longer to win harder at the existing category — but to re-think, and re-design the new category.

Categories aren’t fixed

We often talk about Category Design in the context of creating something new: identifying a problem the market hasn’t properly articulated, defining a different solution to it, and building a category around that new way of thinking.

But categories don’t stay still once they’re created.The customer changes. Technology changes. Regulation changes. New alternatives appear. What people value changes.

And eventually, the problem a category was designed to solve can start to look different too.

The mistake is assuming the category that made you successful will remain the right category simply because you lead it.

Netflix began with DVDs delivered by post, but the underlying customer need wasn’t DVDs. It was easier access to entertainment. As technology and behaviour changed, the category around that need changed too. Netflix was brilliant in recognising early that entertainment would one day be delivered digitally — something even its name anticipated. They saw where the category was heading and positioned themselves for it.

Also Read: Seizing opportunity when the competition blinks: Look for category and ecosystem openings

Category Design and ecosystem intelligence go hand in hand.

Categories are shaped by more than the companies competing within them. Customers, regulators, governments, analysts, investors and other stakeholders all influence what the market values, permits and expects. Tracking how those forces are moving in real-time is how you spot a category shift before it becomes obvious — and position yourself ahead of it.

What comes after ultra-fast fashion?

There are signs that Shein itself is already looking beyond the model that made it successful.

Following its IPO, it’s preparing for an acquisition-driven phase, targeting brands across different price points. Its first announced deal is Everlane, a brand associated with higher-quality basics, sustainability and supply-chain transparency — almost the opposite end of the fashion spectrum from Shein.

At the same time, Shein is expanding its marketplace and Xcelerator programme, giving other brands access to its manufacturing network, logistics and global customer base. It is using the infrastructure advantage it built in ultra-fast fashion to evolve beyond the current category it helped build.

Whether that represents an evolution of ultra-fast fashion or the beginning of something different is harder to say. If the category is changing, the answer isn’t simply to make fast fashion a little faster, cheaper or more efficient. It is to understand and design the new category to drive what consumers will value next.

Maybe value becomes less about the lowest possible purchase price and more about cost-per-wear.

Maybe resale becomes part of the original purchasing decision rather than something that happens afterwards.

Maybe consumers still want novelty, but expect brands to provide it with less waste.

Maybe supply-chain transparency itself becomes part of the value proposition, rather than something sitting behind the product.

Or maybe something else entirely becomes the basis on which the next generation of fashion companies competes.

The category isn’t clear yet.

And that’s exactly when Category Design matters.

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