Shein's big Hong Kong debut gets off to a rocky start

Fast-fashion giant Shein raised $1.7 billion in its long-awaited Hong Kong initial public offering, valuing the online retailer at around $26.3 billion.

Shein’s much-anticipated arrival on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange has not gone according to plan, with the fast-fashion giant’s shares falling sharply shortly after trading began on Tuesday.

The company raised US$1.7 billion (about R27.4 billion) in its initial public offering, but its shares quickly dropped to HK$43.72 (R90.20) from the HK$48.56 (R100.20) listing price.

For a company that became one of the world’s biggest online fashion retailers by selling clothes at remarkably low prices, the weak debut is a significant setback.

It also highlights the challenge Shein now faces as regulators, governments and investors take a harder look at the business model that helped fuel its extraordinary rise.

Shein’s Hong Kong listing values the company at roughly US$26.3 billion (R424 billion).

That is a dramatic fall from the nearly US$100 billion (R1.61 trillion) valuation it commanded during private fundraising rounds in 2022.

The company has spent years trying to go public, with proposed listings in New York and London running into regulatory scrutiny before Chinese authorities approved its Hong Kong flotation in July.

Shein said the money raised would be used to improve its technology and expand its international operations.

But investors appear less convinced about the company's growth prospects than they once were.

Morningstar analyst Lorraine Tan said Shein’s revenue growth had slowed to below 10% in 2025, roughly in line with the wider fast-fashion industry.

Shein’s appeal has always been straightforward: huge numbers of trendy clothes, produced quickly and sold online at prices that are difficult for traditional retailers to match.

That model helped the company build an enormous following. By the end of 2025, Shein had an average of 156 million monthly users in Europe alone.

That put it behind Amazon , with about 180 million European users, and AliExpress, with 193 million.