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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Comment
Zainab Mahmood

Ultra-fast fashion is taking over – and using every trick in the book to get us addicted

The Shein website.
‘Fashion, especially the cheap kind, is addictive.’ Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

High street brands such as H&M and Zara have been accelerating the pace of fast fashion for years, but the 4,414 new styles H&M added to its US website this year isn’t even the worst of it – enter ultra-fast fashion.

The Chinese fashion retail website Shein was recently valued at $100bn and has added almost 315,000 styles to its website this year alone. At the time of writing, Shein UK has 4,029 items in the under £5 section, with several crop tops and miniskirts priced at an alarming £1.99.

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