Shein Files for U.S. IPO

[ggm]

Their entire model is based on disposable fashion. Every step of the supply chain behind "wear it once" is risky, in terms of labour relations, inputs, waste, and final disposition of the product.

I think the IPO will do fine, because the stream of consumers worldwide is massive and so there's a sustaining business model here, at a significant externality/cost to everything else.

[llsf]

It might hit a wall, but it is supercharged right now. It does not look like a sustainable model for the planet for sure. Feels like they build items that are used few days, and then end up in landfill.

[harryVic]

We need a recycling tax on fast fashion like we do for other electronic goods.

[thiago_fm]

The HN crowd will just rebel against it, but they are such a Big success story.

Another thing most people can't see is how Shein is good at logistics. Just wait a few years and you'll see in how many other verticals they will operate.

Big business. They will completely disrupt fast fashion.

I bet most people here buy fast fashion or even worst clothes for the environment, but as they are buying it in Zara or H&M, they feel they are less worst than Shein, but it's all the same... Despite that you pay more.

[khuey]

Eh Shein in particular is exploiting a loophole in US law related to shipping small value items direct to consumers from abroad that Congress could and should close.

[Aunche]

Shein is at another level of low quality compared to H&M and Zara. That said, I suspect that people virtue signal about fast fashion because they are uncomfortable with the idea of blaming themselves or people they're close to. I've had no problem wearing my H&M shirts for several years. Besides the fabric quality, it not too different from my other clothes. If people really cared about clothing waste, they would mend their clothes like they did a century ago.

[fnordpiglet]

You’re absolutely right that Zara, et al, are not acceptably sourcing their goods. That doesn’t absolve Shein, and if your business model is based on tiny margins you can’t survive without exploitation. At least higher margin brands have room to compress margins and improve their business model without killing their brand.

But it’s all moot - people are obsessed with the dopamine from buying things whether it’s necessary or quality or not. Sigh.

[bilekas]

Well it's a bit disingenuous to say it's all the same. I think the issue for people I've spoken to at least seems to push more on the forced and or child labour.

You're right they are a financial success story. 66 Billion evaluation is extraordinary to me and just highlights how much demand there is.

[orangechairs]

I only ever hear about Shein in a negative light. It's never been entirely clear to me why Forever21's and H&M's disposable clothing is somehow morally superior to Shein's.

[flappyeagle]

They are remarkably less disposable. That's how bad Shein is. I worked in the industry in a past life and I've seen how the sausage is made. Shein has got the nastiest sausage.

[StopHammoTime]

It has been alleged that Shein uses forced labor to make its products (https://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/01/shein-china-congress-forced-...).

Anecdotally, I have heard that there is three towns where a predominant amount of Shein clothes are made and while people are free to leave, they’re paid in “company bucks” akin to company towns in the late 1800s/early 1900s US.

[pikelet]

They steal designs from independent fashion designers (because designing their own clothes would cost too much I guess). It's also the volume with Shein. They produce so much crap at such low prices and it's all just dumped into an already struggling environment. Shein is far from the only one, but it's the most obvious and well known example.

[llsf]

Not 100% sure, but it look like with "Shein drops up to 10,000 new items on its website daily" (source: https://www.npr.org/2023/10/13/1204983212/shein-america-fast...), it is H&M and Zara on steroids.

The expiration date on clothes is so short that now transporting it by boat is not too slow, and they have to take plane.

(writing this post, while wearing 4yo jeans, and 5yo t-shirt)

[spondylosaurus]

I still have a few things from F21 and H&M that I bought 7-10 years ago. Definitely the exception and not the rule, but I don't think any Shein clothing can last even a fraction as long as that.

[underlines]

EU and the country I live in try to battle super fast fashion:

https://www-srf-ch.translate.goog/sendungen/kassensturz-espr...

[thiago_fm]

Just because Switzerland is rich. Then it's easy to "battle" a battle you've already won

[mattboardman]

>people familiar with the matter said

Why is this line used everywhere in the news? What is the consequence of getting someone on the record for speculating the value of an IPO? It's the most frustrating and lazy part of journalism.

[solardev]

Sometimes people don't want to go on the record talking about their employer, for fear of repercussions. Employees have minimal protections in the US, and if you get fired, there goes your health insurance, all your prescription medications, dental and vision coverage, your ability to pay rent, pay for auto insurance, etc. We have very poor social safety nets and if you lose your job you mostly lose your life. If you're lucky you might have a couple months of savings, but even that is uncommon outside tech circles.

Not worth it just to appease some journalist.

[null0pointer]

They use it because it provides an air of authority when the "person familiar with the matter" could be literally anyone.

[Civitello]

It is used because the alternative is to not provide the information.

[lgkk]

Anyone interested in building a renewable clothing company together?

[ChatGTP]

Checkout Patagonia, IMO they're already done it. I cherish pretty much every single item I own of theirs.

I used to wear "skater hoodies", those brand name things, once I went into a Patagonia store and bought a hoody (once I had some money, had a job). For the first winter in my life I actually felt warm. I never looked back since.

I still have that hoodie, it's probably ten years old now. Still looks great.

[m3kw9]

So was the price advantage loop hole they exploited closed?

[relyks]

Shein is a plague and Congress is complicit in allowing them to succeed. What happened to being hard on China? Why is it that the U.S. allows Chinese companies to succeed here, but China doesn't allow companies from here to succeed there?

They skirt around paying import duties and tariffs that equal to around 34% of the value of the goods. The U.S. should be getting more money from them. "Ecommerce companies are exempt from paying tariffs on products with a retail value less than $800, if they are shipped directly to individual customers" (https://www.businessoffashion.com/news/sustainability/shein-...)

Also, if their IPO prospectus does not include that a change in trade law can affect their business model as a risk, Shein is a fraud.

[ecshafer]

Clothing companies are allowed to succeed in China. Brands like Nike sell t-shirts for 10x what they are sold at here in the US. While China doesn't let US firms compete on the internet, they do compete in clothing just fine.

[jfim]

From TFA:

> Numerous lawmakers, including 16 Republican attorneys general, have called on the SEC to ensure Shein isn’t using forced labor in its supply chain before it’s allowed to start trading in the U.S.

[m3kw9]

This stock will have a perpetual big short float just based on them losing that advantage

[adrr]

How are they shipping to the US so cheaply? I can buy a product for $2 and its ships for free. They must be paying next to nothing for shipping. When i worked for an e-commerce company it was $8 to $10 per order incurred in shipping costs when our volume was millions of orders per month.

[jgalt212]

What the money men want, the money men get.