Temu is an offshoot of Pinduoduo, a massive Chinese retailer that was founded in 2015.
Shein was founded in 2008 and started retail in Europe in the early 2010s.
You have Mercari (Japan), Rakuten (pan-Asia), Coupang (Korea), Shoppee (ASEAN), Lazada (ASEAN), Flipkart (India), Myntra (India), Daraz (Pakistan), Haraj (Gulf states), etc on along with known players like Amazon.
E-commerce is way more cutting edge in Asia than in North America tbh
Spread across a tremendously diverse set of cultures and languages, but a much bigger market for companies that grow there.
It's more so the fact that Asian countries still have low margins manufacturers with little to no overhead.
I can open a garments or shirt factory with minimal overhead anywhere in Asia, but if I tried opening a Maquiladora here in the US, I'd be facing a 10-20 year federal sentence like those guys who brought Thais illegally to the Garment District in LA in the 90s.
All I need is 10 sewing machines, 10 semi-skilled laborers, some consistent electricity, and a bit of cash to pay off the local labor inspector. I def can't do that here in the US anymore.
The Western media bubble is wilfully ignorant, I'd guess mostly out of incompetence rather than malice.
I'm afraid we'll be schooled in the future, hope it doesn't hurt too much.