Shein: French fashion is facing a moment of humility.

Let us start with an obvious fact that many still refuse to face. The emergence of new, highly digital players is not the cause of the industry’s difficulties, but rather a reflection of them. Over the past ten years, part of the French fashion ecosystem has failed to adapt to changing consumer demand. Today, moral outrage too often serves as a smokescreen for a much simpler reality: these brands have fallen behind.

The success of these new business models is no accident. They offer exactly what consumers want: affordable prices at a time when purchasing power is under pressure, a fully digital and often gamified experience, and an almost constant stream of new products. We can criticize their social and environmental impact — indeed, we should — but we cannot deny that they have found their market. Refusing to acknowledge this means deceiving ourselves.

The emerging model is demand-driven.

The recent partnership between Shein and Pimkie is therefore far from being an aberration. It reflects an economic reality: for a struggling mid-range brand, joining forces with a player that has mastered on-demand production, data, and supply chain management is a way to regain momentum and expand internationally while preserving its identity. From an operational standpoint, it is a win-win situation, whatever one may think of its symbolic significance.
That is where the real issue lies: this is not a moral debate, but an industrial challenge.

Our textile industry has remained stuck in an inventory-based model: collections designed months in advance, uncertain forecasts, huge amounts of unsold stock, and successive rounds of discounts to clear inventory. The emerging model, by contrast, is demand-driven. This is not a matter of opinion; it is an operational shift.

Its superiority is not simply a matter of cost: the key lies in its industrial and technological architecture. In practical terms, data is now integrated as closely as possible into the manufacturing process. It has moved beyond marketing to directly drive production. Market signals are continuously analyzed.
The C2M (consumer-to-manufacturer) model is taken to the extreme: very small initial production runs, real-time monitoring of demand, rapid restocking if an item performs well, and immediate discontinuation if it does not.

At the same time, the industrial system is becoming modular and reconfigurable, capable of adapting in real time to demand signals. This data-algorithm-factory feedback loop drastically reduces the amount of capital tied up in inventory, limits unsold stock — an economic and environmental burden — and optimizes capital allocation.

Establish clear safeguards.

This shift is not unique to the fashion industry. The automotive industry is undergoing the same transformation. Faced with the rise of Chinese electric vehicles, Ford’s CEO recently referred to a “humbling moment.” Recognizing that others have moved faster and that we need to learn from them is not a weakness, but a survival strategy.
It is time for the French fashion industry to show the same clear-sightedness. Thirty years ago, it was the West that exported its processes, expertise, and brands to China.

Today, the trend is reversing. Rather than denying it, we would be better off learning from the models that are succeeding, by forming alliances or cooperating, while establishing clear safeguards.
To preserve jobs, competitiveness, and industrial sovereignty, the French fashion industry must draw inspiration from these new production models: data-driven management, short iteration cycles, and operational efficiency.
This is not about giving in; it is about giving ourselves a chance to endure.

By Sandrine Zerbib

Sandrine Zerbib is the founder of ZW Conseil and the author of several books on China.