Clothing giant Shein to file for London IPO: Reports

LONDON: Shein, the Chinese-founded online fashion giant, is set to file in the coming days with regulators over a potential London stock market listing, UK media reported Monday (Jun 3).

A float, which could value Shein at £50 billion (US$64 billion) according to Sky News, comes after the Singapore-based fast-fashion group came up against opposition for a New York listing amid US-China tensions.

The Financial Times and Sky said the UK filing would take the form of a “confidential” initial public offering (IPO), which affords companies more flexibility and the ability to hold back information on future strategy ahead of floating.

Shein did not immediately return an AFP request for comment.

Shein, founded as ZZKKO in 2008 in China and based in Singapore, has quickly conquered the global fast fashion market by catering to young customers through social media.

The firm has been accused of exploiting unpaid labour, obscuring production processes and encouraging overconsumption as it faces the wrath of environmental and human rights activists.

The European Union recently added Shein to its list of digital companies that are big enough to come under stricter safety curbs.

The company joins Facebook, TikTok, X, YouTube and others on a list of “very large online platforms” that have more than 45 million active users monthly in the EU.

Shein said on Monday that its resale platform, where customers can buy and sell previously pre-owned products from the fast fashion retailer online, will be made available in Europe and the UK.

The platform, which was launched in the US about two years ago, will now be accessible in France, followed by the UK and Germany in subsequent phases.