Shein exec finally says listing will happen, London still looks to be likely location

Fast-fashion giant Shein has finally said that yes, it is planning a stock exchange listing and while it didn’t specifically say it would be in London, it hasn’t ruled it out.

Shein’s listing ambitions have long been talked about and its original focus was New York. However, the welcome for a Chinese-linked company there was unlikely to be an enthusiastic one and the rumours since then have said London was the next-most-likely option, helped by the fact that the UK is one of the business’s top five markets.

Donald Tang, executive chairman of the now-Singapore-headquartered-but-Chinese-founded company told The Times in an interview conducted in London that a listing will happen. 

And while there has been some opposition from UK groups concerned about everything from its labour practices, to its fast-fashion profile and its secretive nature, Tang doesn’t appear to be afraid of the spotlight that a listing will shine on it.

He said Shein wants to list in order “to embrace the … accountability and transparency of being a public company”.

He added that the business is “democratising” global fashion, that it complies with laws in local markets and creates less waste than its rivals do because of the low inventory levels that it holds. He also cited research that shows its customers don’t view its products throwaway items to be worn just a few times.

Tang said he “admired” UK regulators for “a clear sense of separation between politics and regulation” and he also minimised concerns about Donald Trump’s plan to close the loophole whereby low-priced important into the US are tariff-free. 

He said he himself has advocated reform to create a “level playing field” and insisted that Shein’s success is because “we have a superior business model. We are about customers. We’re not about customs policy”.

The now 13-year-old company is believed to have filed paperwork for a potential London listing last summer, although the executive chairman didn’t confirm this and hasn’t mentioned any timing for a likely listing, nor the monetary value it would have.

But the company is already a member of the CBI, the major UK business organisation. That membership came, he told The Times, because “we want to be a globalised company. In London, we want to be a British company. We want to be a British local company … we’re registered here, we’re paying taxes here, we want to be part of a community.”