Xiren Zhang’s Post

With Shein’s IPO on the horizon, the business model of fast fashion is now being validated on a massive scale. Shein, once an online disruptor, is now a global leader in fashion retail, and its valuation is expected to £50 billion after going public. This development raises critical questions about the future of the fashion industry. Is this validation of fast fashion a sign that the industry has fully embraced its rapid, wasteful, and exploitative model? Or is it simply a reflection of short-term success that will ultimately be unsustainable in a world increasingly aware of the need for ethical consumption?

SHEIN DOUBLES PROFITS AS IT AWAITS IPO APPROVAL The Guardian SHEIN, the online fast fashion retailer founded in China, has more than doubled its profits to more than $2bn (£1.6bn) as it awaits approval for a stock market listing in New York or London. The company, which is growing rapidly around the world by using social media to promote its goods, recorded sales of about $45bn last year, according to a report in the Financial Times based on information from sources close to the company. Shein, which has moved its headquarters to Singapore, is among the most profitable fashion companies in the world, the figures suggest, making more than the Swedish fashion group H&M and the UK’s Primark and Next. However, profits at Inditex, the Spanish owner of Zara, Bershka and Massimo Dutti, remain higher at €6.9bn (£5.9bn) last year. The UK chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, reportedly held talks with the Shein boss, Donald Tang, in February to try to persuade him to float the company on the London Stock Exchange. The company is thought to be considering a London listing because it believes that the US Securities and Exchange Commission is unlikely to approve its initial public offering (IPO). If it were to go ahead, it would be one of London’s biggest ever corporate listings, valued at up to $90bn. The rapid rise of Shein, which bought the Missguided online brand from Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group last year after recording sales of £1.1bn in 2022 for its UK entity, has piled pressure on UK online fashion specialists including Asos and Boohoo. The new competitor is gaining ground just as the UK online groups grapple with a squeeze in the market after the pandemic boom. Shein partly benefits from sending goods directly to shoppers, including to the UK and US, from China so they attract fewer taxes. The tactic has proved controversial, prompting calls for a change in tax rules. Founded by the entrepreneur Chris Xu, the company continues to run most of its operations from China but sells all its goods outside the country. It reached a valuation of $100bn in an April 2022 fundraising round, making it the third most valuable startup in the world. https://lnkd.in/dEweUas5 #metaverse #fashion #ai #crisis #investment

Online fashion retailer Shein is set to file for an initial public offering in London in the coming days, according to Sky News. https://lnkd.in/gAYTZxBi The multibillion-dollar listing by Shein could become one of the UK’s biggest ever IPOs, clawing back a chunk of the market value London has lost from companies shifting their primary listings to New York. Shein has achieved a valuation of $50 billion in private trades, a chunky figure that would lift the spirits at the ailing London market, which has largely missed out on a revival of European IPOs. Bloomberg News reported in February that the company was actively looking at London as it had judged it unlikely that the US Securities and Exchange Commission would approve a New York IPO. US Senator Marco Rubio was among those asking the SEC to block it, saying the company needs to disclose more about its operations in China. Shein, which was founded in China and is now headquartered in Singapore, declined to comment to Bloomberg News on the IPO

Short-term IPO strategy or long-term approach to finding a new price positioning? 📈In the United States, Shein's biggest market by sales, the company hiked the average price for women's dresses by 28% in the year to June 1, to $28.51, the #EDITED data showed. 📈While still well below the average for an H&M dress ($40.97) or a Zara dress ($79.69) in the U.S., Shein upped prices by a bigger percentage than its rivals over the same period, according to the data. 📈On Shein's UK site, a dress cost 24.12 pounds ($30.97) on average, 15% more than a year ago, while the average dress across France, Germany, Italy, and Spain was 36% more expensive." #IPO #SHEIN #pricingstrategy #marketintelligence

Fast fashion retailer Shein has increased prices on some core products by over a third, potentially boosting revenues ahead of its planned IPO. Shein's average price hikes exceeded those of rivals H&M and Zara. The company operates an online marketplace but primarily focuses on making and selling its own women's clothing brands. Shein relies on a network of China-based suppliers and most of its clothing is made in Guangzhou. Coresight Research estimates that Shein's revenue will reach $50 billion this year, a 55% increase from the previous year. Increasing prices and attracting outside brands to sell on its site can help Shein achieve its sales target and increase profits. Shein faces higher costs and compliance with new EU regulations as it prepares for its IPO. In the US, Shein raised the average price for women's dresses by 28% in the year to June 1. Shein wants to demonstrate that it can sustain growth and sell higher-priced products to increase its valuation. Shein is seeking a valuation of around £50 billion in a London listing. Price increases are aimed at boosting profit margins prior to listing. Shein's growth may slow in established markets like the US and the UK, but it can sustain growth by entering new markets, increasing prices strategically, or through acquisitions. The US, Germany, and the UK are Shein's biggest markets. Price hikes may impact the conversion rate of site visits to purchases, so Shein needs to attract more visitors and increase their frequency of visits to drive sales growth. #shein #fastfashion #ipo #pricehike

‘Chinese fast fashion giant Shein has been seeking an initial public offering for over a year now. The company was rejected for membership to the U.S.-based National Retail Federation, and numerous U.S. lawmakers including Senator Marco Rubio have expressed their support for the SEC blocking any potential U.S. IPO for the Chinese company. But now Shein has apparently abandoned its attempts to go public in the U.S. Instead, Bloomberg reported that Shein will likely IPO in London as soon as this week. The IPO would reportedly value Shein at over $64 billion, making it one of the largest IPOs in the history of the U.K. Shein, which is based in Singapore, still needs approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission for the IPO to go through. Shein is clearly shifting its strategy for reaching Western consumers. The ongoing trade war between the U.S. and China has made Shein’s U.S. inroads more difficult. In the last year, specifically as a counter to China, the U.S. has introduced legislation like the Americas Act aimed at strengthening trade and manufacturing ties between countries in the Americas.’ #apparel #retail #ipo #fastfashion

#FastFashion is predatory every which way you slice it, including the calculated leveraging of manipulative social media practices. The Gen Z and Millenials fueling this craziness are literally fashion victims, addicted to the endorphin hit of affordable coolness. At least cigarette packs come with a warning label. H’mmm… Ok, friends in Brandland, an assignment: Design a warning lable for Fast Fashion. Note that since SHEIN ads now make up a signifciant percentage of Meta and Google ad revenues, those companies need it to keep their stock prices up, so there is a tangle of investor-driven venality going on. Big Oil LOVES this. The polyester fiber market, roughly $80 billion in 2022, is expected to double to $160 billion by 2032. Now add plastic packaging. Now add aviation fuel, since loads of this is shipped by air freight from China (injected CO2 directly into the upper atmosphere). As part of the brief, make it cool for Gen Z and Millenials to rebel. It’s their future on the line and they are being played. More here: (“Fashionably Foolish: https://lnkd.in/gh8ztbfm) Brian Collins Prof. Jonathan A.J. Wilson PhD DLitt Robert C. Wolcott Joseph Han Cas Malo Tom Elia Scout Driscoll Jordan Mozer Taamy Amaize Betsy Vardell Jessica Helfand Steven Heller Dan Vlahos, AIGA DL Debbie Millman Scott Galloway Tensie Whelan Amy Larkin

Instant fashion wins. Society loses. Estimates that SHEIN grew by 20X since entering the US market to $30 billion were off - BY 50%. According to information seen by the Financial Times, Shein’s 2023 revenues were closer to $45 billion, or 30X growth in six years. That equates to a compound annual growth rate of close to 75%. 👗Offering > 5K new styles per day at an average price point of $7.90 (as of 2021 according to Business Insider)…Shein is producing and shipping over 5 billion garments per year….almost 2/3 of which are made from polyester….leading to #microplastic shedding and leaking methane (which is 80X more damaging that CO2, albeit for a shorter time horizon) from landfills for generations. 💵 Shein’s IPO filing has yet to be approved by the SEC. This may be due to the company’s skirting the de minimus rule (and thus, paying no tariffs on shipment imports where Gap pays $700m, for example), investigations that have reported use of forced labor and banned Chinese cotton, and / or investigations that revealed untoward working conditions in Shein contractor factories, or geopolitics. 🌲And, yet, as I wrote in an article in Harvard Business Review (“The Lingering Costs of Instant Fashion) Shein is targeting a $90 billion IPO (likely in London) with substantial payouts for its financial sponsors (including General Atlantic, Sequoia Capital China, the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund and others)…while the environment suffers, further. To change behavior, change the rules. Rachel Arthur Maxine Bédat Leslie Johnston Brett Mathews Elizabeth Segran, Ph.D. Livia Giuggioli Firth Joel Makower Joseph Zwillinger Jessica Quillin, PhD Sucharita Kodali Tim Mohin Tricia Carey Saqib Sohail Matthew Kilgarriff Michael Beutler Lutz Walter Evan Wiener Grace Zuncic John Elkington https://lnkd.in/eRXinnYT

In a world which is environmentally struggling and the Used Textiles Industry struggling due to fast fashion like Shein, this is appalling and they should be stopped, Taxed heavenly!!! So why is the UK government allowing this, why is Shein and other fast fashion brands not paying for the waste they are producing and selling so cheaply. Who is listening, we need a change of thinking, we need action now, not in 10 years when its to late. UK Government ACT NOW!!!!! UK Waste Textiles market need support, we need education for the public, we need licensing, taxes and soo much more 😠 😡 #Wastetextiles #UsedTextiles #Governmentaction

SHEIN's profit in 2023: $2bn Double what they made in 2022. Despite the typically lower margins on clothing. And with no physical stores. They also had sales of $45bn. That's more than H&M. More than Primark. More than Next. In the UK fashion vertical, it now has almost the same clothing market share as Zara at 2.2%. It's the third most valuable startup globally. Whatever your thoughts are on Shein, it's difficult to ignore their rapidly expansive growth. https://lnkd.in/eXciEsAJ #ecommerce