The technology industry likes to talk about fast-moving trends, but even the most innovative digital companies can take a leaf out of the fashion industry's book. Nowhere else does one up-and-comer replace the next so quickly. Former investor favourite H&M, which has now triggered a share price drop on the stock market with its business performance and outlook, gave traditional fashion retailers a real scare just a few years ago with its fast-growing chain of shops for a young, price-sensitive clientele. But just a short time later, the Swedes found themselves under heavy pressure in Europe from online fashion trendsetters such as Zalando, Asos and About You - and of course from e-commerce giant Amazon.

But the new stars in the shopping constellation have also lost a lot of their lustre recently. A look at Zalando teaches us that the shareholders of the once rapidly growing Berlin-based company can be even less satisfied with its share price performance than the investors in H&M. The company has mutated from a DAX heavyweight to a shaky candidate, as its business performance has been particularly disappointing over the past year.

The underlying reason is the next wave of challengers in the fashion industry. The Chinese so-called fast fashion manufacturers Shein and Temu are in the process of rolling up the European market at what feels like the speed of light, with collections that change just as quickly. They are not only outperforming suppliers such as H&M in terms of price, but are also appealing to their young, experimental customers via new sales channels such as Instagram and Tiktok.

H&M is becoming an icon of yesterday, while the Spanish Inditex Group has to be careful that its brands do not suffer the same fate. Both are losing their trendsetter image. Investors are leaving with the customers. The latter are also apparently very receptive to the low-cost fashion mail order companies from the Far East – despite all the criticism due to suspicions of forced labour and circumvention of customs regulations. Shein, which has set its sights on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) for its IPO, is not only being courted by the LSE itself as a potential flagship. The word in financial circles is that investors are putting an initial valuation of 50 billion pounds on Shein, which is just under 60 billion euros. H&M is valued at just over a third of this figure.