Shein Buying Everlane Actually Makes Perfect Sense
Shein Buying Everlane Actually Makes Perfect Sense
Shein 收购 Everlane 其实完全合乎逻辑
On Friday, the ultrafast-fashion giant Shein finalized its acquisition of Everlane, a US clothing retailer that made its name by promising “radical transparency” into how its clothes were made. Neither company disclosed the price of the deal, but Puck reported last weekend that it clocked in at $100 million.
周五，超快时尚巨头 Shein 完成了对美国服装零售商 Everlane 的收购。Everlane 曾以承诺对其服装生产过程进行“彻底透明化”而闻名。双方均未披露交易价格，但据 Puck 上周末报道，交易金额为 1 亿美元。
Founded in 2010, Everlane became synonymous with a certain strain of millennial consumerism that was supposed to be the exact opposite of Shein. It mainly sold elevated basics, and told a generation of anxious and high-minded shoppers that they could feel morally good about buying yet another pair of plain ballet flats or black high-waisted skinny jeans. Shein, by contrast, became notorious by flooding the internet with astonishingly cheap, trendy clothing produced at enormous scale. It has been criticized for years for alleged poor labor practices.
Everlane 成立于 2010 年，曾是某种千禧一代消费主义的代名词，这种消费主义本应与 Shein 的模式截然相反。它主要销售高品质的基础款服饰，并告诉那一代焦虑且追求高尚的消费者：购买又一双平底芭蕾舞鞋或黑色高腰紧身牛仔裤，在道德上是可以心安理得的。相比之下，Shein 则因以惊人的规模向互联网倾销廉价潮流服饰而臭名昭著，并因涉嫌恶劣的劳工行为多年来饱受批评。
Given how differently Shein and Everlane positioned themselves, many people online felt the acquisition fell somewhere between darkly ironic and outright dystopian. The fashion writer Derek Guy, better known online as the “menswear guy,” articulated the vibe in a post on X: “Under Shein,” he wrote, “Everlane’s ‘radical transparency’ means you get to read about the small child making your boring gray crewneck sweater.”
鉴于 Shein 和 Everlane 的定位差异巨大，许多网友认为这次收购既带有黑色幽默，又有一种彻头彻尾的反乌托邦色彩。时尚作家 Derek Guy（在网上更广为人知的身份是“男装博主”）在 X 上发帖表达了这种情绪：“在 Shein 旗下，”他写道，“Everlane 的‘彻底透明’意味着你可以读到关于那个制作你那件无聊灰色圆领毛衣的小孩的故事。”
Really, though, the deal makes perfect sense. In the long run, it may end up looking like a preview of where Chinese consumer companies are heading next.
然而，从长远来看，这笔交易其实完全合乎逻辑。它最终可能成为中国消费企业未来发展方向的一个缩影。
Chinese ecommerce giants conquered the global market largely by selling cheap stuff at eye-watering scale. Companies like Shein and Temu thrived in part because of the “de minimis” loophole, a US trade rule that allowed packages worth under $800 to enter the country tariff-free and with relatively little customs scrutiny. That system became the backbone of a new era of cross-border ecommerce, enabling Chinese companies to ship cheap stuff directly to American consumers faster and more efficiently than many traditional retailers could manage.
中国电商巨头征服全球市场，很大程度上靠的是以惊人的规模销售廉价商品。Shein 和 Temu 等公司的成功，部分得益于“最低限度条款”（de minimis）这一漏洞——这是一项美国贸易规则，允许价值低于 800 美元的包裹免税进入美国，且海关审查相对宽松。该体系成为了跨境电商新时代的支柱，使中国公司能够比许多传统零售商更快、更高效地将廉价商品直接运送给美国消费者。
But after US president Donald Trump imposed sweeping new tariffs on Chinese imports and ended the de minimis exemption, the economics underpinning that model began to falter. Chinese companies quickly realized they could no longer rely solely on flooding Western markets with bargain-priced products. If they wanted to keep growing internationally, they needed something more durable: a good old-fashioned brand.
但在美国总统唐纳德·特朗普对中国进口商品征收全面新关税并取消“最低限度”豁免权后，支撑该模式的经济基础开始动摇。中国企业很快意识到，他们不能再仅仅依靠向西方市场倾销廉价产品。如果想要在国际上持续增长，他们需要更持久的东西：一个老派且优质的品牌。
Shein buying Everlane, however culturally cursed it may appear, is part of a broader trend already unfolding across Chinese commerce and manufacturing. Increasingly, Chinese companies are trying to move beyond anonymous low-cost production and toward owning recognizable global brands associated with quality, lifestyle, and status.
Shein 收购 Everlane，尽管在文化层面看起来有些“诅咒”意味，但这实际上是中国商业和制造业正在展开的更广泛趋势的一部分。越来越多的中国企业正试图摆脱默默无闻的低成本生产，转向拥有与品质、生活方式和地位挂钩的全球知名品牌。
One of the clearest examples comes from Temu’s parent company, Pinduoduo. In March, the company announced a major new initiative called New PinMu, a multibillion-dollar effort designed to help Chinese manufacturers build premium international brands. The project is part of a larger strategic vision outlined by Pinduoduo co-CEO Jiazhen Zhao, who has been hyping up the company’s ambitions to elevate manufacturing standards and create pathways for Chinese factories to move up the value chain.
最明显的例子之一来自 Temu 的母公司拼多多。今年 3 月，该公司宣布了一项名为“新品牌计划”（New PinMu）的重大举措，这是一项耗资数十亿美元的计划，旨在帮助中国制造商打造高端国际品牌。该项目是拼多多联席 CEO 赵佳臻所概述的更大战略愿景的一部分，他一直在宣传公司提升制造标准、为中国工厂向价值链上游迈进创造路径的雄心。
Meanwhile, Luckin Coffee, a Chinese coffee chain that has become one of Starbucks’ biggest rivals, recently acquired Blue Bottle, the cultish specialty coffee brand that helped define American third-wave coffee culture. Anta Sports, a Chinese sportswear giant that began largely as a domestic sneaker company, has spent years buying into premium global sportswear brands, including controlling stakes in Arc’teryx and Salomon.
与此同时，已成为星巴克最大竞争对手之一的中国咖啡连锁品牌瑞幸咖啡，近期收购了蓝瓶咖啡（Blue Bottle）——这个曾定义美国第三波咖啡文化的邪教级精品咖啡品牌。中国运动服饰巨头安踏体育，最初主要是一家国内运动鞋公司，多年来也一直在收购全球高端运动品牌，包括持有始祖鸟（Arc’teryx）和萨洛蒙（Salomon）的控股权。
The trend also reflects broader political pressures inside China. The government has become increasingly critical of the brutal price wars and hypercompetition that dominate industries like ecommerce and electric cars, a phenomenon often referred to as “involution.” Beijing now wants companies to focus more on sustainable growth, higher-end manufacturing, and global competitiveness rather than an endless race to the bottom.
这一趋势也反映了中国国内更广泛的政治压力。政府对电商和电动汽车等行业中盛行的残酷价格战和过度竞争（通常被称为“内卷”）越来越持批评态度。北京现在希望企业更多地关注可持续增长、高端制造和全球竞争力，而不是无休止的“逐底竞争”。
In this new economic and political environment, Chinese companies are no longer content being the invisible factories behind Western brands. They want to own the brands themselves.
在这种新的经济和政治环境下，中国企业不再满足于仅仅做西方品牌背后的隐形工厂。他们想要拥有品牌本身。
And as for Everlane? It already lost much of its cultural relevance in recent years and was facing significant financial headwinds. Once valued at $250 million, the company has struggled to fend off competition from new online basics retailers such as Quince. The private equity firm that sold its controlling stake in Everlane to Shein was also likely eager to unload the $90 million in debt the company had accumulated.
至于 Everlane 呢？近年来，它已经失去了大部分文化影响力，并面临着巨大的财务阻力。该公司曾估值 2.5 亿美元，但一直在努力抵御来自 Quince 等新兴在线基础款零售商的竞争。将 Everlane 控股权出售给 Shein 的私募股权公司，很可能也急于甩掉该公司积累的 9000 万美元债务。
Despite its struggles, Everlane possesses something incredibly valuable: a recognizable American brand associated with tasteful minimalism and a veneer of ethical credibility. Building that kind of identity from scratch takes years, and it’s far more efficient for Shein to simply buy it.
尽管处境艰难，Everlane 仍拥有极其宝贵的东西：一个与高雅极简主义和道德信誉外衣相关联的美国知名品牌。从零开始建立这种品牌形象需要数年时间，对 Shein 来说，直接收购它要高效得多。
The weirdest thing about Shein acquiring Everlane is not that it happened. It’s that people are still surprised.
关于 Shein 收购 Everlane，最奇怪的不是这件事发生了，而是人们竟然还会感到惊讶。
This is an edition of Zeyi Yang and Louise Matsakis’ Made in China newsletter. Read previous newsletters here.
这是 Zeyi Yang 和 Louise Matsakis 的《中国制造》（Made in China）通讯的一期。点击此处阅读往期通讯。