Facing pressure in the United States and Europe, Shein is struggling to find new ways to grow ahead of its much-delayed initial public offering.
Sui-Lee Wee is the Asia business correspondent.
Shein was once one of the most talked-about companies in retail.
It could spot what Generation Z wanted and, within days, turn those trends into $10 mesh dresses and $5 crop tops. Its clothes were so cheap and its churn of new styles was so relentless that #Sheinhaul became a phenomenon on TikTok. Shein overtook bigger rivals like Zara and H&M, started planning an initial public offering and, at one point, was valued at nearly $100 billion.
After years of delay, Shein is close to going public — this time at a fraction of its peak valuation. It is searching for new ways to grow after the United States and Europe dismantled tariff exemptions on cheap goods that had helped underpin its low-cost model. Sales have fallen sharply in the United States, its largest market. And the company has offered investors few specifics about where meaningful new growth will come from.
“For a company as hyped as it was for such a long time, the music has seemingly run out,” said Juozas Kaziukenas, an independent e-commerce analyst.
No Chinese fashion brand has been as successful as Shein at going global. And yet the company remains unusually reclusive.
Its founder and chief executive, Sky Xu Yangtian, is so private that until he appeared publicly in February, most of the photographs circulating online purporting to show him were false. Even a senior overseas Shein executive, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak with the media, said he had never met or interacted with Mr. Xu.
Shein declined requests for an interview. The timing and pricing details of its market debut have not been announced, but the company filed a prospectus with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange last month.
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