Online fast fashion retailer Shein says it will invest 750 million reais (US$148.9 million) in helping to modernise textile production in Brazil in the coming years, according to multiple media reports.
The Chinese-owned firm says the move will lead to the creation of tens of thousands of jobs.
Shein’s Latin America chair, Marcelo Claure, told media that the company’s goal was to “basically ship raw material to Brazil and localise our manufacturing in the country.”
[See more: Fast-fashion giant Shein aims to make Brazil its Latin American hub]
According to reports, Shein will invest in technology and training for Brazilian textile producers, enabling them to optimise their processes and align them with Shein’s on-demand model.
Jeans and cotton t-shirts will be the first garments produced under the scheme, with the eventual goal of using locally made textiles in 85 percent of all sales in Brazil.
“We have seen great success in Brazil since our launch in 2020, and with growing consumer demand, we saw the opportunity to further localise our supply chain,” Claure said.
Meantime, the company says it has established a clothing production line in the country, having reached a deal with a plant owned by Companhia de Tecidos Norte de Minas (Coteminas) in Macaíba, a municipality in the northeastern state of Rio Grande do Norte. Production will be exported to other countries in Latin America.
