In the News | 14 March 2024

From Renewcell’s bankruptcy to the possible sale of Superbalist, ultra fast fashion triggers upending events.

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First thoughts

From Renewcell’s bankruptcy to the possible sale of Superbalist, fashion is experiencing a wave of upending events. Even with the distance between these two events, they share a trigger plate: ultra fast fashion.

It has played an obviously detrimental role in the painfully slow global uptake of new-gen materials like the ones Renewcell offers. It’s also a serious enough threat to South African fashion e-commerce outfit Superbalist that Takealot is considering a sale just 10 years after acquiring it.

The rise of ultra fast fashion raises some serious questions about the industry’s future. In particular, I’m wondering: Where in these shifts is the opportunity for independent brands? Is it in joining initiatives like SHEIN X, a designer collaboration and incubation program? In textile innovation that’s hard to replicate, like Diakwu Cloth? Or in a positioning push into the already crowded, difficult and expensive luxury sector? There has to be one, because no shift is made up exclusively of negative results.

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Across Africa

Takealot explores the sale of Superbalist, Temu hits top 3 download spot in Android and Apple app markets in its first month in South Africa, unemployed South Africans find new opportunity in dropshipping, and CNN spotlights Veldskoen.

Drop-shipping is a lifeline for unemployed graduates in South Africa

Chinese e-commerce websites have proven popular in the country and are fuelling a new line of work.

New eCommerce fashion player in South Africa – taking on Shein, Superbalist, and Bash

Temu launched its South African site last month and is taking on established players with its cheap products and free delivery.

How this South African brand reshaped a classic shoe for the masses

Veldskoen CEO, Nick Dreyer, talks about how the brand found global success through storytelling and picked up celebrity investors like Mark Cuban and Ashton Kutcher.

Superbalist for sale

Daily Investor has learned from well-placed industry sources that Takealot is investigating the sale of fashion retailer Superbalist because of concerns about increased competition from Chinese apparel shops Shein and Temu.

Elsewhere

US fashion reflects on the Superbowl, Zofia Zwieglinska lays out an autopsy of circular fashion startup Renewcell’s bankruptcy filing and BoF looks for the financing models that fuel the industry’s sustainable transition.

How fashion brands rode the Super Bowl wave

This year's halftime show featured Usher wearing designs by Ib Kamara’s Off-White, among other popular fashion brands, but it wasn't the event's only fashion moment. [Limited free articles]

The Renewcell post-mortem, with chief commercial officer Tricia Carey

The world's biggest textile-to-textile recycler, based on volume, Sweden-based Renewcell filed for bankruptcy on February 25.

Where Is the Money to Make Fashion More Sustainable?

Decarbonising the industry is expected to take $1 trillion over the coming decades. Where that money will come from and how it’s distributed remain open questions.

A final note: My thanks to the Fashion Law Institute of Nigeria for including me on their inaugural list of the Top 100 Women in African Fashion.

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