How can we stop buying so much stuff? Importers are bypassing the usual customs and safety standards

Connecting business research with policy, practice and public debate Connecting business research with policy, practice and public debate In an edited extract from an interview with the LSE iQ podcast,Lilia Akatovadescribes why ultra-fast fashion has overtaken fast fashion and what we should consider before we buy something new. Lilia was talking toSue Windebank. Ultra-fast fashion is a relatively new model of fashion production which has emerged in the past five to ten years. Before this we were dealing with fast fashion, which would predict what consumers want and then release collections maybe twice a year. But ultra-fast fashion is accelerating this pattern. These firms go on social media and see what consumers want and then they produce that. And that could mean that they release up to 10,000 collections per year. And sometimes it can be even quicker and then they produce so much that even fast fashion cannot compete. The scale and impact of the industry is tremendous. But it is quite difficult to estimate because no one is separating fast fashion and ultra-fast fashion. But the fashion industry in general is thought to produce up to 10 per cent of global greenhouse emissions. Production has a huge environmental impact because the virgin polyester that much of it is made from uses fossil fuels. And to produce textiles in general uses a lot of water. And then there is the transportation between China or India and the West. And one of the most important impacts is where it ends up. Clothing that is discarded or donated ends up in landfills contributing to plastic pollution in countries in the global south. In a few countries, including the United Kingdom, but also in America and the European Union, there was ade minimisexemption for low-value parcels that was created long ago to ease customs of low-value packages. It meant that packages didn’t have to deal with the lengthy customs procedures at the border and officials did not need to go and look through all of them. When the rules were written, the volume was quite low. But five or ten years ago, when all these Chinese e-commerce giants such as Shein and Temu emerged, they started using this loophole to get their products to customers abroad. And then this low volume turned into huge volume. In 2024-2025 [the UK’s fiscal year], close to 6 billion parcels arrived in the UK. And even two years before, it was 3.5 billion. The UK government has recently consulted on removing this exemption for low-value parcels. They’re closing this loophole and they’re introducing fresh additional checks and customs. [Since this interview was recorded for the LSE iQ podcast, the UK government has announced it will end the customs duty exemption for low value packages by October 2028.] But some countries are already doing this. The EU changed their rules in summer 2025. They don’t yet have a very elaborate system in place, but they started with a first provisional customs duty that’s going to be in place from July 2026 onwards. And then they’re going to charge a fee of €3 per parcel. It’s not going to solve the entire problem. But it is going to prevent some parcels from entering. And they are going to undergo more rigorous checks than they currently do. Because there is also a huge problem with health issues and what materials they are made of and what they’re being used for. And because they are not checked for security or safety they can just flood the market without being checked. By selling directly to the consumer these firms are bypassing the usual kind of standards. And they are bypassing proper customs so the checks are not as rigorous as they would be for other products. It’s not just the volume of the items that are coming to the market, but also the quality of these items and quality of production and of material composition. It’s important to look in detail at what kind of products people purchase and what the quality of those products are. An important metric that some experts are using in textile industry is the cost per wear. And if the material quality of something you buy from cheaply from Shein and Temu is low, then it has to be replaced very quickly. Much quicker than a product with better material composition that might be more expensive, but that would be more durable and last longer. It’s also a good idea for the consumer to consider what is actually included in the price. If you can buy it from China for £5 then what is their labour and material cost? Then also think about the transportation costs and the cost of obtaining material, water and energy. How much can the person who made this item be being paid? And what kind of workers are being used in the production process? Because there have been issues of child and forced labour with these firms. And because they don’t have to comply with the labour standards that we have in the EU or in the UK, then they can use this labour and get away with it. I think that it is important to consider, as a consumer, what kind of power you have to buy, or not to buy, what’s being produced under these conditions. Before I buy anything, I like to think first whether I actually need it. I might go back to my home and check my wardrobe. Maybe I already have it. And then I also consider alternative forms of using things. You don’t necessarily have to buy something new if you only need it for one occasion. Maybe you can rent it or maybe you can borrow it from a friend, you don’t necessarily need to buy something. We need to attach more emotional value to things we have. When something is broken or has a minor flaw, maybe we can repair it instead of throwing it away and finding a new item. I feel like when we cherish what we have, we care more about it rather than throwing it away straight away. Listen to the LSE iQ podcasthereand an interview with Fred Bassohere. This article gives the views of the author, not the position of LSE Business Review or the London School of Economics. You are agreeing with our comment policy when you leave a comment. Image credit:Milosz Kubiakprovided by Shutterstock. Lilia Akatova is a Policy Analyst specialising in economic and fiscal policy. Prior to joining the LSE Centre for Economic Transition Expertise, she worked at the Global Cleantech Innovation Programme (GCIP) at UNIDO, where she led the policy and capacity building component for emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs). Before that, Liliia contributed to policy evaluations and user-centred research for the UK Government and the European Commission at ICF, focusing on marine, agricultural, and conservation policy. She holds an MPhil in Environmental Policy from the University of Cambridge and a BSc in Business and Economics from the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU Vienna). This site uses Akismet to reduce spam.Learn how your comment data is processed.