SHEIN acquires Missguided, a well-known British fashion brand. Flexible smart manufacturing leads the development of the global fashion industry

On October 30, British fashion retail group Frasers announced that its well-known brand Missguided was sold to global fashion and lifestyle online retailer SHEIN. SHEIN will fully acquire the Missguided brand and all its intellectual property rights. This acquisition will not only further expand SHEIN's fashion footprint and bring more diverse fashion brands and products to its global consumers, but also means that SHEIN's flexible on-demand fashion continues to lead the development of the global fashion industry, and its industry ecosystem partners will usher in more opportunities.

Two major global fashion investments in two months   SHEIN deepens globalization and localization

Missguided is a leading British fashion brand founded in 2009. The brand focuses on the integration and innovation of popular elements, and its fashionable and individual design style is deeply loved by young consumers in the UK and other regions.

With the addition of the Missguided brand, SHEIN's fashion footprint has further expanded, providing more possibilities for it to meet customers' needs for product diversity and fashionable, high-quality customer experience. On the other hand, SHEIN's industry-leading flexible supply chain, mature online experience, and vast global sales network will inject new vitality into the globally popular Missguided brand and open up new growth space.

The acquisition of the Missguided brand is one of SHEIN's initiatives to accelerate and deepen globalization and localization. As early as August this year, SHEIN announced the acquisition of shares in Forever 21's parent company, SPARC Group, which owns the operating rights of dozens of fashion brands. Just recently, the cooperation between SHEIN and Forever21 was finally unveiled. According to the long-term cooperation agreement reached between ABG Brand Group (Authentic Brands Group), a global brand development, marketing and entertainment platform, and SHEIN, SHEIN will design, manufacture and sell a series of Forever 21 brand clothing and accessories products, including casual sportswear, swimwear and other categories. The two parties will launch the Forever 21 x SHEIN joint brand.

Two major investments in the global fashion sector in two months will help SHEIN further expand its global market and deepen its leading position in the fashion and lifestyle sectors. In the view of Chen Shaotong, Secretary General of the Guangdong Garment and Apparel Industry Association , SHEIN's flexible on-demand supply chain, professional online capabilities and broad online sales network can give global fashion brands huge growth space and potential. These fashion brands are particularly lacking in innovative supply chains and rapid online expansion capabilities. SHEIN's flexible smart manufacturing will further promote changes and trends in the global fashion industry. In this process, SHEIN's influence in the global and fashion industries will be further enhanced, and its development and growth in the world will also open up greater space.

SHEIN started as its own clothing brand in 2012. With its innovative flexible on-demand supply model in the clothing industry, SHEIN has achieved the unity of fashion and high cost-effectiveness in clothing products. The SHEIN clothing brand is widely welcomed and loved by overseas consumers. Based on its extensive overseas sales network, mature marketing experience and innovative supply chain system, SHEIN has continuously introduced products and brands from third-party merchants in addition to its own brands for many years, and gradually formed a unique dual-engine development model of self-operated brands + platforms. Currently, SHEIN provides products and services to consumers in more than 150 countries around the world. In the future, Missguided will use SHEIN's innovative flexible on-demand supply chain for production, and at the same time, it will be sold online as an independent brand through SHEIN online channels and Missguided.com.

From platform development and full-category layout to the introduction of more well-known brands, SHEIN is committed to providing high-quality and diverse products to global consumers on the one hand. At the same time, it is also paying more and more attention to local layout in its global expansion, so as to better serve the needs of local consumers through logistics fulfillment closer to the local market and the introduction of more local products and supplies.

Fashion brands have been "incorporated" one after another. SHEIN's flexible intelligent manufacturing leads the development of the global fashion industry

According to the cooperation agreement, after acquiring Missguided, SHEIN will use its unique flexible supply chain system to manufacture for the brand, while the brand's design and operation will be authorized to a joint venture company established with the founder of Missguided, which will be responsible for product design and operation. At the same time, the SHEIN platform will be responsible for the brand's online sales.

Donald Tang, Executive Director of SHEIN, said: “SHEIN aims to reignite the Missguided brand, combining the unique personality given to the brand by its founding team and driving new global growth through SHEIN’s on-demand production model, mature online experience and global influence.”

Founder, Chairman and CEO of ABG   Jamie Salter told the media that the cooperation with SHEIN will undoubtedly enhance Forever21's competitiveness, because SHEIN has a technology-driven on-demand production supply chain system, and said that ABG Group has more than 50 brands, and Forever21 is just the beginning of the cooperation between the two parties. Coincidentally, Frasers & Neave, which owns many well-known British and global fashion brands, also said that in addition to Missguided, it is also discussing more with SHEIN.

Chen Shaotong said that the willingness of well-known fashion brands to be "recruited" by SHEIN is an important manifestation of the rise of overseas companies and brands in the international development and global fashion industry. SHEIN has been able to set off a wave in the global fashion industry, which is inseparable from its innovative on-demand production and flexible supply chain model in the industry . This model uses actual market demand to predict sales and control production, reducing the possibility of inventory waste from the source, and converting these saved waste into cost-effective prices to give back to consumers. At the same time, the flexible on-demand production model promotes the informatization and online upgrade of the entire chain from front-end fashion trends , design and development, production and manufacturing , warehousing, logistics and other links, thereby driving the digital upgrade of the apparel manufacturing industry, bringing about the improvement of industry efficiency, reducing industry waste, and promoting industrial balance.

As an innovative model leading the development trend of fashion, the application of flexible on-demand production in more brands including Missguided can promote the evolution of the fashion industry on a larger scale. Boston, a well-known American consulting firm, pointed out in the report "Agile Supply Chain: A New Source of Competitive Advantage in the Fashion Industry" that the on-demand production agile supply chain model represented by SHEIN can help companies quickly respond to market changes and balance supply and demand, thereby reducing inventory costs, improving capital efficiency, increasing revenue or sharing profits with customers through more affordable product prices. It is a general trend for companies to create an agile supply chain model for survival and development.

Through an agile supply chain that produces on demand, SHEIN can better solve problems such as inventory waste and pollution from the source . In fact, as a leading global fashion brand, SHEIN's exploration in promoting sustainable development and environmental protection in the industry goes beyond this. By cooperating with industry-leading company Queen Of Raw to re-produce excess fabrics in the industry, using recycled plastic packaging bags and courier bags, promoting industrial waste management initiatives, and launching a second-hand product resale platform, SHEIN has integrated the concept of carbon emission reduction into every link of its business process.

Industry ecosystem partners welcome favorable news again and continue to support industry upgrading

SHEIN flexible on-demand fashion continues to lead the development of the global fashion industry, while also bringing more opportunities to industry ecosystem partners and continuously assisting the upgrading and development of the entire industry ecosystem.

SHEIN, which has been deeply involved in the industry chain for more than ten years, has been promoting the digital transformation of the industry with innovative flexible supply chains. SHEIN has been continuously providing suppliers with digital technology tools to achieve online collaboration of various chains, providing suppliers with all-round training in business management, production & quality management, organizational management, and diversified supplier community services, comprehensively promoting the improvement of suppliers' comprehensive strength.

In 2023, SHEIN announced that it would continue to invest 500 million in the next five years to continuously invest in supplier empowerment work in many aspects, including technological innovation, training support, factory expansion, and supplier community services. In the field of technological innovation, SHEIN has established the first clothing manufacturing innovation research center based on the flexible supply chain created by industry innovation. It conducts cutting-edge exploration of lean production and agile processes based on the on-demand production agile supply chain model , and ultimately outputs and empowers its supplier community . The SHEIN Clothing Manufacturing Innovation Center covers an area of ​​more than 58,450 square meters . In five years, it will invest nearly 300 million yuan in the research and development of lean production solutions for innovative clothing manufacturing , such as using automated guided vehicles ( AGVs ) to improve the automation and production efficiency of the entire process .

SHEIN is also committed to the training of young and technical talents in the industry , and supports the improvement of practitioners' skills and comprehensive quality through training . In 2022, SHEIN has carried out more than 380 supplier trainings, including third-party certification training courses (Intertek/SGS) . These courses cover corporate management, organizational structure, business processes, etc. , such as quality inspection and full inspection capability certification training, as well as courses aimed at improving production scheduling, operational stocking and other full-process capabilities . In 2023, SHEIN will complete 480 trainings, including more workshop courses that combine lean concepts.

SHEIN will continue to expand the scope of supplier factories that it supports , complete the expansion and renovation of 100 more factories this year , and achieve the goal of covering 300 supplier communities within the next four years . At the same time, supplier community charity projects such as Children's Home and Juxingguang are also being promoted.

By enabling suppliers' factories to improve their comprehensive capabilities and the long-term sustainable development of the industry ecosystem through a number of initiatives , SHEIN will continue to support the transformation and upgrading of the apparel manufacturing industry and its international expansion .

SHEIN

Acquisition

Missguided