For decades, Argentina’s fashion industry has operated under protectionist policies, with strict import restrictions and tariffs making it difficult for international retailers to enter the market. This often left consumers with limited options, and brands with few incentives to compete on price.
But Argentina’s textile market has begun to change under President Javier Milei, who has rapidly loosened trade barriers in an effort to liberalize Argentina’s long-protected economy. By lifting restrictions on imported goods, Milei has paved the way for a surge of foreign retailers, with Chinese fast-fashion giant Shein emerging as one of the biggest winners.
The Chinese retailer’s ultracheap clothing has quickly gained traction among Argentines, who are turning to e-commerce platforms to bypass domestic prices that many consider unaffordable. Yet Shein’s rise in Argentina is not just a story of consumer preference. It underscores a broader problem: of fragile local industries collapsing under liberalized trade while governments hold few tools beyond tariffs. There are trade-offs involved between cheap clothes, local competitiveness and the unchecked expansion of foreign giants — whose growth often clashes with the ideological narratives promoted by the government.
Argentina is a country known for its polarizing ideologies. Whether in politics, soccer, food or even neighborhood loyalties, it’s not unusual to find people locked in heated debate. But if there’s one thing everyone seems to agree on, it’s that clothes in Argentina are expensive.
Especially among those who travel within the region, it’s widely perceived that clothing prices are significantly higher in Argentina than in neighboring countries, such as Chile. According to a report by the research organization Fundar, clothes in Argentina are nearly 40% more expensive than in six other countries in the region, including Uruguay and Mexico, countries with higher GDPs per capita. And while the think tank identifies several contributing factors, Pro Tejer — a nonprofit that promotes sustainability and protects Argentina’s textile sector — highlights one in particular: taxes.
The country’s textile sector has carried one of the heaviest tax burdens in the region: Approximately 50% of the price of a standard mall-brand item is made up of multiple taxes, while just 8.5% reflects the actual cost of production.
The result is an industry in which clothes often cost far more than in neighboring countries. Priscila Makari, executive director at Pro Tejer, cites the case of fast-fashion retail giant Zara: When comparing Zara’s product prices in dollars, a garment produced in Morocco and sold across the region ends up costing 70% more in Argentina than it does in Brazil.
But since Milei liberalized trade and opened the country’s economy to a broader range of imports, consumption of foreign-made clothing has surged — posing a growing threat to local brands. As part of its free-market overhaul, the Milei administration eliminated tariffs and import restrictions in an effort to tame inflation and transform one of the world’s most closed economies. Imports rose more than 40% in February 2025, reaching nearly $6 billion — with Chinese imports more than doubling — as Argentines increasingly turned to foreign goods. This surge in imports is expected to harm domestic manufacturing jobs, according to factory owners who spoke to The Wall Street Journal.
In the fashion industry specifically, Pro Tejer reported that apparel imports rose 86% between 2024 and 2025 — and, so far this year, of the roughly 20,000 tons of imported textile goods, 73% originated in China. Meanwhile, e-commerce demand has soared to the point where airports in Argentina have had to expand their infrastructure to handle the influx. According to a 2024 report published by the Argentine Chamber of E-Commerce, e-commerce revenue saw a 5% year-over-year increase and a 176% rise in average transaction value.
“Today, products enter the country at prices we can’t compete with,” says Jessica Kessel, a shoe designer and owner of the independent Buenos Aires-based brand that bears her name. Kessel also addresses one of the contradictions raised by Milei’s economic policies: Paradoxically, while his administration has cut import restrictions for international brands, local brands remain subject to steep taxes.
In the first quarter of 2025, a Pro Tejer survey found that half of the Argentine companies in the textile and apparel sectors reported lower sales than in the same period the previous year, with an average decline of 5%. The year-over-year comparison is even more dramatic: 7 in 10 businesses reported an average drop of 21% compared to the first quarter of 2023.
“Producing in Argentina with quality standards, paying fair wages, and committing to original design often means working on the edge of profitability,” the designer tells New Lines. That’s why she calls not only for the government to create real financial tools for the sector, but also to reevaluate the country’s taxes on the textile industry.
While imports could benefit Argentina in certain ways — for example, by making fashion more competitive — Lucía Levy, a fashion journalist and founder of the online media platform La Curva de la Moda, notes that almost every clothing brand is struggling, from major retailers in shopping malls to niche labels and even small-business owners who buy in Avenida Avellaneda, a major commercial hub in Buenos Aires’ Flores neighborhood, known for wholesale fashion.
During his presidential campaign, Milei made a bold statement: He would not do business “by any means” with communists, referring to China’s President Xi Jinping. However, almost two years into his presidency, the Argentine leader finds himself in an uncomfortable position: While Argentina is U.S. President Donald Trump’s closest political ally in Latin America, China is the country’s second-largest commercial partner, according to data from March 2025.
According to Jorge Argüello, the former Argentine ambassador to the U.S., Argentina has established financial and commercial commitments with both Washington and Beijing, which makes the current state of affairs delicately balanced.
“It’s true that President Milei’s foreign policy has marked a significant diplomatic shift, particularly given his ideological — and even personal — alignment with the Trump administration,” Argüello tells New Lines. “However, China engages with all of Latin America through a diplomacy that doesn’t necessarily demand ideological alignment, unlike the U.S. during the Cold War or the current Department of State — and Argentina, unlike Brazil, Venezuela, or Cuba, is not a stage for such critical disputes between Washington and Beijing.”
Yet “ultimately, Argentina doesn’t escape the region’s broader logic in its relationship with the U.S.,” he adds. “For decades, the U.S. has shown limited interest in the region, except when they perceive their critical interests are being affected.” So far, it seems that Shein’s expansion in Latin America hasn’t sounded alarms in Washington. But that could change: Trump’s tariffs may push Argentina and other regional economies further away from the U.S. market, deepening their reliance on China.
Beyond Argentina, Shein and other Chinese retailers are rapidly expanding across Latin America. According to Rest of World, these platforms not only dominate consumer trends but also generate new jobs and reshape entire industries. In Mexico, for example, low- and middle-income housewives sell Shein or Temu items door to door, while hundreds of gig workers have abandoned local delivery apps to handle packages from Temu and AliExpress. Street markets in countries such as Mexico and Honduras also sell surplus goods from clothing manufacturers producing for Shein.
Chinese retailers have also made inroads in Latin America’s largest economy, Brazil, which has become one of Shein’s biggest markets. The company has built three warehouses near Sao Paulo, according to The New York Times.
As Chinese retailers expand across the region, many governments (unlike Argentina’s) are tightening tax rules on these e-commerce platforms. In January, for example, Mexico introduced a 19% e-commerce tariff on goods from countries without trade agreements, such as China, including those sold by Shein and Temu. By July, the tariff had risen to 33.5% and was folded into a broader strategy known as “Plan Mexico,” designed to promote local industry and manufacturing.
Similarly, Brazil has also tightened tax rules on Chinese retailers. Shipments from Shein and Temu are now subject to a 20% import tax and a 17% state tax on packages worth less than $50. These measures, implemented in 2024, are intended to bring companies into Brazil’s new “Remessa Conforme” tax-benefit program, getting them to voluntarily agree to compliance with certain basic regulations. According to Reuters, however, Temu has already secured certification for the exemption program.
Chile, one of the region’s most open economies, will begin applying a 19% tax on all online imports in October, with an exemption for purchases under $41. And in August, Uruguay announced plans to propose a value-added tax on foreign e-commerce purchases in its new five-year budget.
Together, these examples underscore how Shein’s model is reshaping local economies across the region, often with disruptive consequences, and how governments are scrambling to respond. Argentina, however, appears to be moving against the tide.
Founded in China in 2008 and now headquartered in Singapore, Shein gained global prominence through social media and user-generated content. The Chinese fast-fashion giant’s strength lies not in the clothes themselves, however, but in speed and algorithms.
In recent years, influencers have flooded TikTok and other platforms with Shein hauls and unboxings. As of July 2025, TikTok featured 1.3 million posts using #sheinhaul and 8.1 million using #shein. Similar trends play out across other video-based platforms, such as Instagram. Some of this content is part of paid collaborations, while other videos are organic. Temu, for instance, approached the 35-year-old Argentine dermatologist and content creator Sofía Rufino Cayssials with an offer of free products in exchange for sponsored content. But her Shein hauls, she says, were purely out of personal interest. “Let’s be honest, who doesn’t like watching what other people buy and get inspiration?” the content creator tells New Lines.
Algorithms — both internal and external to the company — have driven Shein’s dominance in the online fast-fashion market. The company is active in over 150 countries, offers a constantly updating catalog, and sells at prices that are lower than labels like H&M, Forever 21 or Zara.
Additionally, its algorithm-based systems give it a significant advantage over local brands: Shein anticipates trends before they even go viral on social media, which allows it to produce in small test batches. If a style sells well, it can quickly scale up production. According to Rest of World, Shein operates a digital marketplace that connects roughly 6,000 Chinese clothing factories, all linked through a system powered by software that tracks real-time customer feedback, flagging which items are hits or flops. This allows Shein to produce new inventory almost on demand, with between 6,000 and 10,000 new products per day.
An analysis by NielsenIQ — a consumer intelligence company — revealed that Shein delivered 315,000 collections just in 2022, compared to 6,850 for Zara and 4,400 for H&M. In fashion terms, a collection is a group of products launched together within a season or built around a particular theme.
What also sets Shein apart from retailers like Amazon or Mercado Libre, the region’s most popular e-commerce site, is its gamified e-commerce approach. “It’s almost as if you are not shopping, but playing Candy Crush,” Levy says. She has a point: The site welcomes users with pop-ups offering 20%, 30% or 50% off, spinning wheels promising prizes, and a points system that rewards users for making purchases, leaving reviews and even playing in-app games.
According to Google Trends, searches related to Shein in Argentina peaked around mid-July 2025, with a total of 1.7 million searches that month — although interest had been growing steadily since February. Top queries include how to buy from Shein in Argentina and whether it is safe to do so.
A combination of economic, social and cultural factors likely made Argentina the perfect setting for Shein to thrive. In addition to Milei’s relaxed import policies, a survey by the consulting firm Moiguer, cited by the Argentine newspaper La Nacion, found that 50% of respondents were struggling to make ends meet, a figure that rose to over 60% in low-income households.
The firm also highlights an interesting consumption pattern, which they call the “dual consumption” dynamic, in which one segment of the population is increasing its spending in certain areas, while another continues to struggle economically.
It’s within this economic context that people are not only cutting back on nonessential purchases, such as clothing, but also opting for cheaper alternatives, like those offered by Shein. “Most people don’t prioritize quality or design; they don’t prioritize any of that. They only buy based on what they can afford,” Levy explains. And the fashion content creator Agustina Cabaleiro seconds that thought, adding that if there’s one factor no one can fight against, it is how much money people have in their pockets.
One could argue, however, that the rise of fast fashion, driven by social media trends, is a much larger phenomenon, one rooted not just in economics but also in culture. As Kyle Chayka argues in “Filterworld: How Algorithms Flattened Culture,” everything today feels the same: music, art, food and, yes, fashion. He suggests that algorithms are at the heart of that sameness.
“Today, even the most short-lived fashion trends are exhaustingly [viral],” writes the British Vogue reporter Julia Hobbs, “with popularity and shelf life determined by algorithms.” Levy links the rise of these viral but fleeting trends to a desire among consumers “to go unnoticed, to dress like everyone else, to seek social approval.”
Still, Levy is quick to point out that consumers aren’t to blame. “We need to focus responsibility on the companies. Why do governments allow giants like Shein to exist, when it’s been proven they employ people under brutal conditions?”
Levy’s point reflects one of the many controversies surrounding Shein’s meteoric rise. Advocacy groups and journalists have uncovered mounting evidence that its $7 crop tops and $22 shoes are being made by workers laboring under exploitative conditions. In February 2025, the European Commission announced its own investigation into Shein’s compliance with EU consumer law.
Environmental experts also sound the alarm: Many of these items are worn once and tossed, with Latin America often becoming the dumping ground. “Europe, Asia and the U.S. produce so much textile waste [that often] they sell it to Africa or Latin America,” says Levy, referring to one of the most visible symbols of this crisis: Chile’s Atacama Desert, which is increasingly suffering from pollution generated by the fast-fashion industry. Thanks to its rapid mass production, the Atacama Desert is one of the world’s fastest-growing dumps of discarded clothes, home to massive piles of textile waste, according to National Geographic.
After reports and claims from organizations, reporters and activists, France was one of the first countries to take action against fast-fashion giants like Shein. In June 2025, the French Parliament approved the first European law specifically aimed at curbing the rise of ultrafast fashion, with 337 votes in favor and only one against.
According to a report by Pro Tejer, this unprecedented initiative has two main goals: moving toward a more sustainable model of production and consumption, and protecting European commerce and industry, which have been pushed aside in recent years by fierce competition from major Chinese retailers. “This groundbreaking regulation represents a global paradigm shift in how fashion is produced, consumed, and regulated. It’s also a clear sign of the direction in which the world’s leading economies are heading,” states the report.
Cabaleiro adds another interesting point, calling for the need to understand fast fashion in context — which, in this case, is Argentina’s ongoing economic crisis. “The fact that imported fast-fashion goods are arriving to Argentina doesn’t necessarily mean that we’re going to get rid of those clothes faster than any other,” she explains, adding that it’s very rare for Argentines to throw away any kind of products, including clothes. “We have a strong culture of passing clothes along, vintage shopping, donating, exchanging with friends.”
The surge of Chinese fast-fashion imports to Argentina highlights a series of contradictions, some more evident than others. On the one hand, global retailers like Shein offer what many local labels can’t, Cabaleiro explains: a wide variety of sizes, trendy designs and prices that feel accessible in a country where even clothing has become a luxury. For consumers squeezed by inflation and falling wages, the availability of affordable options cannot be easily dismissed as a bad thing.
Yet the consequences for Argentina’s fashion industry are undeniable. Domestic brands, already weighed down by some of the region’s highest taxes, find themselves unable to compete. Independent designers and shopping mall labels alike are losing ground, and the cultural identity embedded in local production is at risk of being eroded.
At the same time, the affordability of fast fashion forces a deeper question: Why are fast-fashion clothes so cheap in the first place? Behind the low price tags lie the hidden costs of exploitative labor practices, environmental damage and a model of consumption designed to feed fleeting trends. In the end, the clash between Shein’s rise and Argentina’s struggling fashion sector is not just an economic story, but also a social, cultural and ethical one.
Become a member today to receive access to all our paywalled essays and the best of New Lines delivered to your inbox through our newsletters.