Fast fashion giant Shein’s mooted flotation on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) could be larger than any stock exchange listing seen in Europe in the last year. Coming at a time when the LSE is struggling to attract new listings, with some firms migrating to other exchanges, this could be a welcome boost. So it is perhaps unsurprising that the Chinese-founded company has been courted by the UK government, the LSE and those whose role it is to champion the City of London.
Yet there are ongoing concerns about the controversial business model and practices of Shein, whose founder Chris Xu relocated himself and the company’s headquarters to Singapore in 2022. These were exacerbated when Shein’s lawyer struggled to tell the UK’s business and trade parliamentary committee whether the company uses cotton from China.
