The unstoppable rise of fashion's £50bn giant

As ministers woo Shein to make the most contentious London stock market listing in years, Katie Strick on the secret world behind the hyper-fast clothing behemoth

- Katie Strick

IT'S the £50 billion fashion behemoth you've probably never heard of. Or almost definitely aren't sure how to pronounce. Unless you're an adolescent girl or 30-something woman, of course, in which case your wardrobe may well be full of the stuff: £13.99 jeans and £1.65 tops as seen on TikTok. Either way, you might soon be seeing more of Shein (pronounced "she-in") in the coming days, as the hyper-fast fashion brand looks to file for a London stock market listing.

According to insiders, the Chinafounded clothing giant is set to confidentially file its intention to float with UK regulators after tensions between Beijing and Washington threw a spanner in the works of its plans for an IPO in New York. If the plans are accepted, it would be one of the largest deals for the London Stock Exchange in a decade, with an IPO likely to value the company at about $66 billion (£51.7 billion) - a boost to the stock market after Brexit, but a kick in the teeth for UK fashion brands and a worrying middle finger up to campaigners calling for an end to the crisis that is fast fashion.

Unethical factory conditions that some say verge on forced labour, "nightmare" environmental practices and alarmingly cheap prices fuelling unfair competition are among the criticisms of Shein in recent years. Tory MP Tom Tugendhat recently called the company a "sinister cross between surveillance and capitalism" for its race-to-the-bottom prices, wasteful consumerism and data harvesting. (Shein has come under fire for using algorithms to spy on users' internet browsing). Just months later, his own Conservative colleague Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is now in planning talks with Shein's executive chairman Donald the latest in a series of both Conservative and Labour ministers seemingly courting Tang in a bid to woo the brand to London. So how did Shein do it, exactly?