What the Shein and Temu phenomenon leaves behind: The secret of imported merchandise

"Those shoes don't speak Spanish" is more than just an unusual animistic wish, it's an increasingly common expression among consumers when they notice that the product another person is using wasn't made in their country.

And beyond the discursive tone, which may even seem humorous, this statement undoubtedly contains another underlying issue: when purchases of clothing, footwear and any other article related to clothing produced abroad are privileged, this is to the detriment of products manufactured in Argentina .

This is corroborated by the figures in a report released by the Argentine Chamber of the Apparel Industry (CIAI), which indicates that during the first four months of the year, Argentines spent more than $1.5 billion on clothing purchases abroad . This is in addition to an explosion in so-called "door-to-door" imports, with a 211 percent increase so far this year.

And while the increase in this type of consumption occurs in a particular economic situation for the country, one of currency appreciation and reduction of import tariffs, the long-held belief that drives the purchase of foreign products over domestic ones dates back to the colonial era, first, and then to the 19th century. This is acknowledged by Rosana Leonardi, co-author of The Future of Buenos Aires Clothing: Buenos Aires, 1800-1852 , when she explains that at that time, fashion was valued as a bourgeois device that allowed the elites to differentiate themselves from the rest of the social classes.

A differentiating idea that continued into the 20th century, and although during the Second World War there was a growth in the national textile industry and products began to be purchased by other sectors, warns Leonardi –who is also the professor of History of Clothing and Textile Design I and II at the Faculty of Architecture, Design and Urbanism at the University of Buenos Aires– that it was the wealthy strata that maintained the habit of shopping abroad in order to be up to date with the “latest fashion”.

“And if we look back to the 1990s,” the author reflects, “when the festival of imports took place, this notion that used to be brandished by the elites became 'democratized' for the middle classes,” she adds. This, she notes, highlights that a cost-quality analysis isn't always present when purchasing imported garments. “Once again, the symbolic core of clothing (being and appearance) is at the mercy of a ruthless game,” she concludes.

In turn, the long-standing belief that imported goods are superior to local goods is the source of two other recurring arguments: just as it is often said that garments made abroad are cheaper than those manufactured domestically, they are also often attributed with superior quality.

For Luciano Galfione , president of the Pro Tejer Foundation , in recent history, this idea failed to take into account the negative impact it had on the national industry, nor the systemic competitiveness problems the sector faces (high financial, tax, and rental costs). "It disregarded the multiple benefits of having a solid industrial base: quality employment, value added, innovation, and federal development," he adds.

Galfione also points out that another common prejudice is that imported clothing is considered an option to lower prices, when imported garments are systematically the most expensive on the market and, ultimately, prices respond to the level of demand and the cyclical behavior of the economy.

The expert at the head of Pro Tejer—the organization dedicated to integrating the textile and clothing agro-industrial value chain—clarifies that this analysis excludes clothing imported directly by the consumer through the "door-to-door" method. In this case, the costs associated with the commercial channel and taxes are not a factor, which, on the other hand, the producer cannot avoid.

In agreement with this, Claudio Drescher, owner of the Jazmín Chebar brand and president of CIAI, points out that what is appropriate is for companies from the countries where the products come from to contribute to Argentina through the payment of taxes, as local companies do.

The industrialist, with extensive experience in the sector, who since the 1980s has been the brainchild of companies such as Caro Cuore and Vitamina, analyzes that, just as there are different qualities in national production, the same is true in international production, although in the case of the sector he is concerned with—clothing—he can confirm that fast fashion companies, such as Shein or Temu, export discarded material with little actual use. "No matter how cheap it is, any garment that lasts four or five months or doesn't fit well in the second wear," he comments, "is not a saving, it's a loss," he emphasizes.

A loss that becomes even more profound when one considers that these types of transactions ignore or outright conceal the working conditions under which the products, the materials, and the places where they were made were developed. Even worse, these companies are the main cause of the enormous amounts of textile waste.

Gaba Najmanovich, a trend analyst trained as a clothing designer at FADU-UBA, acknowledges that, just as with cultural products, such as music, there isn't a comparison with the outside world, but it is with things that go through an industrial process. And this contrasts with what used to happen, at least two decades ago, when brands still went to the major fashion capitals, such as Paris, London, or Milan, to seek out trends. "Today, with the internet, everything is in one place," she argues. " The fashion system accelerated with fast fashion ," she reflects, "so we can't say that what's from abroad is fashionable and Argentina is late," she adds.

A graduate of the London College of Fashion , Najmanovich also maintains that this is a good time for local firms to look inward again and work on redefining quality.

"Meta Argentinidad" is precisely the "Argentine for Argentina" trend that the specialist noted at the end of 2022, in line with the triumph in the World Cup in Qatar . Then, the following year, she identified more signs, such as, for example, the popularization of the national team's jersey. What characterizes it? The redefinition of the concept of Argentinidad and humor, among other things.

Although this is not the first time that brands have taken advantage of the Albiceleste boasting and clichés relating to the country, it is enough to review the history of the last thirty years of local fashion and think of the Via Vai concert parade at the Obras Stadium in the early 90s or the line called “Patria” that Pablo Ramírez conceived in the early 2000s , including the signature designs that walked the catwalk later, during the Bicentennial celebrations.

Now, what is distinctive, as Najmanovich details, is that the products, both the garments and the accessories or objects studied, insist on literality and self-referentiality, as demonstrated by the use of the same printed word: "Argentina."

In fact, when considering the problem of the increase in the consumption of imported goods, he clarifies that this trend is not necessarily a response to the belief that foreign clothing is superior to domestically produced goods. "It is a reaffirmation of the value of our own products in the face of the equalizing forces of globalization," he concludes.