Shein, the one-time cheap clothing colossus, has announced its plans for an IPO. If you could look at it from the vantage point of a few years ago, the valuation Shein is currently shooting for is, well, not great.
The Wall Street Journal wrote in 2022, back when Shein was on top of the world, that it had just received a funding round of $1-2 billion that placed its value at $100 billion. According to Reuters yesterday, its latest plans value it at a little over a quarter of that: $27 billion.
The Nanjing-founded, Singapore-headquartered, but largely Guangzhou factory-powered apparel company started out as a wedding dress company in 2008, but its creators soon discovered a lucrative alternative business model: selling less-than-top quality goods at rock-bottom prices to eager young Americans thanks to tariff exemptions on low-priced items. In the 20-teens, Shein climbed the ranks of similar companies that largely marketed themselves on Instagram. Then it shot up to juggernaut status during the Covid-19 pandemic when shopping from home was often the only shopping customers did.
But then Trump’s trade policies came along, in particular the 2025 abolition of the de minimis tariff exemption that took Shein’s prices from cheap to so-cheap-you-can’t-resist.
Last month, Shein reported a $99 million quarterly loss.
Reuters says Shein pursued public listings on the NYSE and the London Stock Exchange, before finally settling on Hong Kong, where trading will debut at the start of next month.
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