Shein is the cheapest for new clothes, but if you consider the second-hand market, there are online options for that too.
The Chinese clothing retailer has faced trouble in recent weeks following the South African Revenue Service’s (SARS) decision to place a 45% duty and VAT on clothing packages below R500 that are imported.
This will come into effect from 1 July and has been implemented to prevent further exploitation of small-volume and low-value packages.
This decision has angered South Africans who use Shein and Temu as they claim that this is their only source of inexpensive clothing due to the country’s unaffordable clothing sector.
National Clothing Retail Federation executive director Michael Lawrence has said that these objections are based on a feeble argument and consumers need to look at the bigger picture.
He argued that those who use online shopping platforms are “fundamentally middle-class consumers.”
Although these regulations need to protect those working in the local clothing industry, South African consumers may be making a valid point.
A brief scroll through Shein suggests that consumers are definitely right about it being inexpensive. However, is it really that much more affordable than South Africa’s budget clothing retailers?
MyBroadband compared the price of a standard clothing basket consisting of three items from Shein to some of the country’s clothing stores.
The stores used in the comparison were Shein, Mr Price, Pep, Zando, Clothing Junction, and Yaga. Prices from Woolworths and Cotton On were provided for context.
The men’s clothing basket consisted of a pair of jeans, a T-shirt, and a hoodie. The women’s basket consisted of jeans, a top, and a jacket.
Of the stores compared, Yaga proved to be the cheapest in both the women’s and men’s categories.
Yaga is not a clothing retailer but a marketplace for South Africans to sell their second-hand clothes.
Thrifting, as it is more commonly known, is the process of buying second-hand goods from thrift shops or second-hand marketplaces and stores.
ThredUp notes in its 2024 Resale Report that the second-hand clothing industry will reach R6.3 trillion globally by 2028 and predicts that it will overtake fast fashion by 2030.
As for the clothing retailers, all their clothing baskets came out to at least R50 more than Shein’s.
This difference will almost definitely decrease if not disappear after 1 July.
However, compared to other clothing retailers in the country, Mr Price, Zando, Clothing Junction, and Pep are not much more expensive than Shein.
In terms of Clothing Junction’s men’s basket, the difference between it and Shein is R59.90.
This seems significant when all other baskets are within a R100 range of one another.
However, when compared to retailers such as Cotton On and Woolworths, the difference no longer seems as large.
This doesn’t discredit the argument made by consumers that Shein is the only affordable clothing retailer but rather highlights the disparity between retailer’s prices.
In the men’s clothing category, a T-shirt on promotion at Cotton On costs four times as much as one on promotion at Mr Price — both T-shirts selected from these retailers were on sale.
Similarly, one could buy just under three and a half women’s baskets from Shein for the same price as one basket from Cotton On.
Including the prices of Woolworths and Cotton On baskets was to demonstrate the difference in price between what is considered budget clothing in South Africa and retailers that target the middle class.
Shein is not a flat out winner either. The overall basket may be cheaper, but there are individual items that South African retailers sell or cheaper.
For example, Zando has women’s jeans that are R9 cheaper than Shein’s. Zando and Mr Price sell men’s T-shirts for less than Shein does.
So, compared to other retailers, Shein is more affordable on average, but not in every single case.
The tables below show the prices of each basket from the abovementioned retailers.
| Women’s clothing | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retailer | Jeans | Top | Jacket | Total |
| Yaga | R90 | R30 | R80 | R200 |
| Shein | R119 | R23 | R117 | R259 |
| Clothing Junction | R130 | R40 | R150 | R320 |
| Zando | R110 | R49 | R209 | R368 |
| Mr Price | R160 | R30 | R200 | R390 |
| Pep | R170 | R60 | R200 | R430 |
| Woolworths | R349 | R40 | R379 | R768 |
| Cotton on | R400 | R90 | R400 | R890 |
| Men’s clothing | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retailer | Jeans | T-Shirt | Hoodie | Total |
| Yaga | R100 | R40 | R80 | R220 |
| Shein | R149 | R58 | R89 | R296 |
| Pep | R159 | R65 | R160 | R384 |
| Clothing Junction | R180 | R70 | R140 | R390 |
| Zando | R199 | R49 | R180 | R428 |
| Mr Price | R219 | R50 | R189 | R458 |
| Woolworths | R250 | R60 | R449 | R759 |
| Cotton on | R599 | R200 | R599 | R1,400 |