This is an adapted excerpt from “The Enshittification of eShakti,” by Andrea Grimes. It was originally published in The Flytrap, a worker-owned, intersectional feminist media collective founded in 2024.
Once upon a time, eShakti was a unicorn in the fast-fashion forest. Their offerings were both on-trend and classic, and great for workwear, vacations, and even bridal styles, especially for plus-size women like me who enjoyed their size customization options. Before my wedding, I bought a cream-colored 50s-style cocktail dress to serve as my backup gown, because I am both curvy and mercurial: I wanted options for my look on that day, the big day. And eShakti literally delivered. Even better: the company advertised its commitment to “the health, well-being, and ethical treatment of all our employees worldwide” on what is now a near-defunct website.
Today, I’m writing about eShakti in the past tense, not because the company flamed out in a spectacular going-out-of-business sale, or was subsumed in another fashion industry buyout, but because they seem to have just … stopped? … after a prolonged but mysterious decline. The first clear indication that something was up at eShakti surfaced in early 2023 with the beginnings of an online…
