Shein was fast fashion’s next big thing. Now it’s fighting for a second act

It could spot what Generation Z wanted and, within days, turn those trends into $US10 ($13.95) mesh dresses and $US5 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 such as Zara and H&M, started planning an initial public offering and, at one point, was valued at nearly $US100 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 CEO, Sky Xu Yangtian, is so private that until he appeared publicly in February, most 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 authorised to speak with the media, said he had never met or interacted with 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.

Shein has taken pains to distance itself from its Chinese origins. In 2019, it established its headquarters in Singapore and deregistered its original Chinese corporate entity a few years later. The aim was, in part, to navigate Chinese rules governing companies seeking offshore listings and clear a path toward an IPO in New York.

The strategy failed. In the United States, Shein encountered intense, bipartisan scrutiny from lawmakers over its supply chain and labour practices. After abandoning its New York listing effort in 2024, it turned to London, where it faced similar resistance from non-government organisations and other protesters.

That left Hong Kong as the last major viable venue. But after years of delay, analysts say Shein may have missed its moment.

The turn toward Hong Kong has also put Shein in the awkward position of having to re-embrace the Chinese identity it once tried to play down. In China, the company has faced criticism for “blooming in China but bearing fruit abroad” — a phrase suggesting that Shein built its success in the country while redirecting profits overseas.

Then, in February, the famously elusive Xu suddenly appeared before officials in Guangdong province.

“Guangdong is Shein’s root,” he declared, announcing that Shein would invest about $US1.4 billion over the next three years to build a supply chain hub there.

Chinese media initially covered the speech. Then some articles began disappearing from the internet.