Analysing UK low-end fashion

My read of the case study makes me think that Shenshi’s revenue comes from massive sales of poor quality clothes that don’t last but mirror the latest trends, sort of like H&M? Customers don’t care if the clothes fall apart because it’s so inexpensive to replace them.”
That’s a key point you’ve made for positioning of Shenshi. I love cars, so I saw the Korean analogy as appropriate, but it might not be spot-on. I’d like to debate this further.
There is a clothes brand in the UK called “Primark" that is a budget manufacturer competing with supermarket clothes brands (think Tesco, Asda(Walmart)). It is a sensation with British shoppers who can find bargains that look good (BTW, they’re doing some interesting and engaging work to build a community site called Primeria, where users upload pictures — something I think might be of value to Shenshi). Check out this "feet-on-the-street" take on Primark.
The point here is that Primark, Tesco and Walmart all share something in common — optimized supply chains and low-cost manufacturing. There is nothing new that Shenshi can bring to the table if it competes at this level. It would be competing with established giants who already use the lowest-cost production in China/S.E. Asia. I don’t see Shenshi being positioned that low, as I think you also indicated.
Your suggestion of H&M positioning does seem to hit closer to the mark, but does Shenshi want to go head-to-head against the #2 global clothing retailer?
Here’s where I think Shenshi’s strength lies. Mr Wang believes he has “swift turnaround production capabilities" and that his "network of clothing factories can swiftly react to producemoderate sized batches of virtually any sort of men’s clothing at low cost”. In other words, I think Shenshi’s key differentiator is a type of bespoke experience, for medium-batch designs at the lowest cost of manufacture. That’s not Tesco. That’s not Walmart. That’s Shenshi.
What it means for my ambitious 32-year old who sees himself (at some point) in upper management within “the Gherkin”, is that he can look the part at a reasonable price — “cachet without the cost”. Merriam Webster defines cachet as “a characteristic feature or quality conferring prestige”, which is precisely what I suggest Shenshi offers the target audience — and they can do this at the lowest cost.
Who does that today?