Xu Yangtian, Shein’s reclusive founder and chairman, made his first public appearance at an event organised by the Guangdong government to emphasise the company’s Chinese roots and praise the mainland government's support for its growth.
Until now, the Chinese billionaire founder of the fast-fashion group, which started as a wedding dress e-commerce site in Nanjing, had never spoken publicly. The company has never released his photo, and he has maintained a notably low profile, widely seen as an effort to avoid regulatory scrutiny. His rare address to provincial government officials, which was live-streamed, drew global attention as Shein seeks Beijing’s approval for its planned Hong Kong IPO.
Xu pledged to “continue to take root in Guangdong” by investing over 10 billion yuan ($1.4 billion) to build a “smart supply chain system” and forge “a world-class fashion industry cluster”. This marks a stark change for a company that long sought to distance itself from its Chinese roots, relocating to Singapore in 2022 amid global growth and offshore listing plans.
“Every step of Shein’s growth is inseparable from the nourishment of this land,” Xu said, calling Guangzhou the company’s “supply chain headquarters”. Since Guangzhou operations began in 2014, Shein has achieved exports exceeding 100 billion yuan, partnered with nearly 10,000 suppliers, and created over 600,000 jobs. Over the next three years, it plans to deepen cross-border e-commerce and industrial cluster pilots across Guangdong.
Bloomberg reported in August that Shein considered moving its base back to China from Singapore to secure Beijing's approval for a Hong Kong listing. In November, it launched national research and operations centres in Nanjing, its original home.
However, Shein’s offshore listing ambitions have repeatedly stalled. Attempts to list in New York and London faltered amid regulatory scrutiny over its supply chains and China ties. London emerged as a fallback option, but the UK Financial Conduct Authority examined Shein’s supply-chain oversight and legal risks following challenges from a Uyghur rights advocacy group. Last July, Shein confidentially filed for a Hong Kong IPO, though no progress has been announced.
A Hong Kong listing could weigh on Shein’s valuation. Market estimates suggest a potential $50 billion valuation, down sharply from its 2023 peak of $66 billion and its 2022 high of $100 billion. Unlike rivals such as Inditex, Amazon and PDD’s Temu, which trade on Western exchanges, Shein risks limited peer comparison, thinner analyst coverage and softer international investor demand in Hong Kong.
Shein continues to court controversy. In August 2025, Italian regulators issued a one-million-euro fine for greenwashing. In October, France’s CNIL imposed a €150 million penalty for unauthorised cookie data collection without consent, which Shein is contesting. In the US, over 40 active lawsuits (as of early 2026) allege copyright and trademark infringement against brands like Dr Martens, Chrome Hearts, and Ralph Lauren, including RICO claims and Temu's suit over "mafia-style" supplier intimidation. Last week, a Texas attorney sued over toxic products and data exposure to China, and earlier this month, the EU launched a probe into sales of child-like sex dolls.
Shein has responded by forming a Business Integrity Group, bolstering audits and testing controls in markets like the US and Brazil, claiming to have addressed prior issues such as greenwashing. The company's troubles reflect wider fast-fashion scrutiny on sustainability, labour, data, and supply chains, heightened by Shein’s scale ($55 billion revenue forecast for 2025) and IPO ambitions.
Source: Campaign Asia-Pacific
