LONDON (AFP) – Shein, the Chinese-founded online fashion giant, is set to file in the coming days with regulators over a potential London stock market listing, United Kingdom (UK) media reported yesterday. A float, which could value Shein at GBP50 billion (USD64 billion) according to Sky News, comes after the Singapore-based fast-fashion group came up against opposition for a New York listing. 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 (EU) 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, and YouTube and others on a list of “very large online platforms” that have more than 45 million monthly active users in the EU..
