The Enshittification of eShakti
eShakti ghosted workers and customers alike, and the dream of something better than fast fashion died with it.
The dress was an absolute stunner. Its floor-length skirt featured copious folds of cotton poplin patterned with white, navy, and kelly green chevrons. The sleeveless bodice hit me right at the waist, and a notch in the neckline gave just the right amount of flirt. And, of course, like all perfect dresses, it had pockets.
The pockets were the headline. Everywhere I wore it—and I wore it a lot in the 2010s—I became a walking “Thanks, it has pockets!” meme. But the subhed was important, too. The dress was from eShakti, an India-based clothing manufacturer once beloved by shoppers—especially plus-size women like myself—who appreciated the company’s signature offering: made-to-measure garments at a reasonable price. Sure, I often had to wait a few weeks to receive my orders, but it sure beat getting drenched in sweat and despair in a mall-store fitting room, assuming mall stores even carried my size in the trendy, fashion-forward clothes I preferred.