When in 2013 Primark announced that it would open the largest single-brand store in Spain on Madrid’s Gran Vía, Mayor Ana Botella mentioned it in the debate on the state of the city as one of the examples of investment projects that her policy was promoting in the capital. The store opened and then others came, and here peace and then polyester.
Am I against shopping at Primark? No. Was it perplexing that the president of my city mentioned it as if it were a tourist center leading to a better Madrid? Of course.
Twelve years later, the Chinese company Shein opened its first physical store in the world. And the news and images would be nothing more than a handful of headlines in the salmon press, if it weren’t for what they imply and what they say a little about us.
They did so at the Bazaar de l’Hôtel de Ville (BHV) in Paris, inside a shopping center that other brands abandoned so as not to share space or oxygen with the Asian giant and at a very difficult time for the brand, as its directors must appear before French deputies on November 18 to answer questions about the sale of dolls with child pornography on their website.
They did so later and despite protests from the unions and the Paris City Council. Greetings to those who say that everyone is equal.
On Wednesday, the opening day, which was also the day that the French Government ordered the suspension of its digital platform, in front of the store there were huge queues of citizens eager to buy in analogue what they already do. online and dozens of riot police. And there were also people carrying banners denouncing the working conditions of their workers, the opacity of the company, the damage to the environment, the consequences of the compulsive and mass filling of our closets.
Shein in Paris is the victory of opacity and capitalism, of a company that copies and remains silent. But it is also a shot to the heart of greatnessa country whose fashion sector represents around 3% of GDP. It’s taking out the checkbook and staying in the world capital of brands we can’t afford. It is capitalism that does not want to follow orders.
I wonder what will happen if they come to Madrid. And I think I know the answer.