Shein which recently abandoned plans to float in London, has claimed sales of close to £2bn last year (’24) with profits of £38.3.m in the UK alone. The business, which is blamed by many for the downturn in trade experienced by many of the UK’s fashion brands, has proved to be a highly successful competitor with clear advantages over those bound by UK law. Shein has, as widely reported, come under increasing scrutiny for its alleged use of slave labour. It also still benefits from the ‘de minimis’ loophole, which enables it to avoid charging its direct UK customers VAT or import duties. A loophole which has now been firmly closed by the USA, and which the EU is also focused on blocking.
Shein is now expected to list in Hong Kong, bringing it much more firmly under the control of the Chinese government, which had, it is said, been critical of the fast fashion business’s move to work with manufacturers in Turkey and other ‘foreign’ countries. Moves made by Shein, to ‘clean up its act’, to first achieve a London listing and to then be open to any of its questionable practices or claims about them being scrutinised and called out.
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