Shein Group Ltd. is under pressure to cut its valuation to about $30 billion as it prepares to go public, Bloomberg News reported this week. That would still overprice the fast-fashion retailer caught in the crosshairs of US President Donald Trump’s trade war.
Bloomberg
Shein has been looking to list for at least the past year or so. With London increasingly losing out to New York when it comes to initial public offerings, British authorities have been keen to woo the seller of $15 dresses and $2 glass drinking straws. Around six months ago, a valuation of about $60 billion was said to have been targeted. Shein shareholders are suggesting the company lower its sights to get its offering away, according to Bloomberg. Assuming the $30 billion is equity, this would be a more realistic target — but it might still prove punchy given the considerable uncertainties around Shein’s business in the US, its biggest market.
Shein made more than $2 billion of net income in 2023, according to the Financial Times, surpassing $700 million in 2022 and $1.1 billion in 2021. Assuming it added another $1 billion last year, and perhaps $500 million this year — although this could prove optimistic — then it would trade on a price-to-earnings ratio below 10 times. That would be a steep discount to Zara owner Inditex SA’s near 30 times ratio.
This valuation looks much more sensible, given the risks to Shein’s growth. But this discount may still not be enough for Shein to tempt investors; even putting aside the environmental, social and governance risks, there’s the perennial question of what they would be buying shares in.
Shein is headquartered in Singapore, but the ultimate controlling party is registered in the Cayman Islands. It, of course, owns its brand, which has become extremely well known, thanks to all those Shein Haul videos on TikTok. But its main business is operating an e-commerce platform that reacts to the looks on social media in real time, with these garments supplied by a network of about 5,000 factories, mostly in China, none of which it owns.
Trump has added another layer of uncertainty. Earlier this month, the US president imposed an additional 10% tariff on products made in China. Shein has already been diversifying its manufacturing base, expanding in Brazil, for example, where it was supplied by 100 factories in 2023 and is planning to eventually expand this to 2,000. The company is asking some of its top suppliers in China to set up new production facilities in Vietnam, Bloomberg News reported.
Another feature of Shein’s business is that it ships direct to western countries from China in smaller package sizes, rather than holding inventory in warehouses closer to shoppers. That’s allowed it to take advantage of the so-called “de minimis” rule whereby customers can receive parcels without paying import duties. Trump announced that that the exemption would be scrapped, but then temporarily paused measures to crack down on the loophole after packages piled up at the border.
Shein has been building distribution infrastructure outside of China, for example in Indiana and Southern California in the US, as well as Canada, Poland, Italy and the United Arab Emirates. It could continue this expansion by adding more warehouse capacity in the US.
But the prospect of higher tariffs, as well as extra costs from operating more extensive logistics facilities, would make it more like a traditional retailer, and less like a nimble upstart offering rock-bottom prices. A $20 dress previously shipped duty free to a US customer could increase to between $25.80 and $27.40, Bloomberg Intelligence estimates. If this were the case, it would be competing more closely with the likes of Associated British Foods Plc’s Primark, which is expanding in the US, as well as Gap Inc.’s Old Navy, Walmart Inc. and Target Corp., as well as the dollar stores such as Dollar Tree Inc. and Dollar General Corp.
Already the noise around tariffs and import taxes is taking its toll on Shein’s US sales growth, which slowed in early February, before recovering after the abolition of the de minimis rule was delayed, according to data from Bloomberg. This could reflect a post-holiday season slowdown across the retail sector; but it’s still concerning.
Shein executives have sought to reassure shareholders about the potential impact of the US’s punitive moves. The company’s head of strategic and corporate affairs in North America told the Retail Week and The Grocer conference recently that the company’s cheap prices didn’t rely on customs policies. Executive Chairman Donald Tang said in a letter to investors that growth remains strong, Reuters reported. He added that he had long supported the ending of the de minimis rule. Still, any IPO is likely to be delayed until the second half of the year, the Financial Times reported. That would give the company time to adjust its supply chain to cope with the impact of higher tariffs and import duties.
Compared with where the price chatter started, and where Inditex trades, the latest number doing the rounds might seem like a bargain. But given the risks to the business, this still isn’t as cheap as one of Shein’s summer dresses.
Heritage menswear label John Smedley has launched its first diffusion line, dubbed JS by John Smedley, for SS25. It brings its 240-year history in British manufacturing and its contemporary take on versatile knitwear to a wider audience and will be exclusively stocked at John Lewis.
Made in England from fully-traceable, high-quality New Zealand Extra Fine Merino Wool, the capsule “has a vibrant and youthful aesthetic, retaining the values of colour and high quality craftsmanship that are hallmarks of the brand”, it said.
While it’s a diffusion line of menswear silhouettes, there’s a unisex edge to the collection of 13 styles featuring shades of blue, pink and green, colour blocked or in bold, statement stripes.
The line features John Smedley’s “most popular pieces reimagined through a contemporary lens”. They’re designed “with a relaxed, boxier fit and colour blocking throughout the collection, as well as unique design details of visible branding knitted into each garment”.
Jess McGuire Dudley, deputy managing director of John Smedley, said: “As a brand we are continually looking to adapt to our customer and the evolving demands of the market. Through the diffusion line we can offer high-quality, fashion-forward styles with sustainable credentials, all designed and made in the UK at mindful price points.”
Stella McCartney has unveiled its summer 2025 campaign starring Myha’la, Alex Consani, Eva Mendes and Raye.
Stella McCartney
And as expected with the eco-friendly label, there are other stars aside from the human celebs. Those famous faces are juxtaposed with doves and “fantastical avians created with AI, inspiring others to see from different perspectives; a bird’s eye view”.
The company said that “with nearly 50% of avian species in decline and 3.4 billion birds harmed or killed for feather down annually, it is a reminder that there could someday be a world where these creatures live only in fantasy if we do not save what we love”.
As that last statement suggests, the campaign is an evolution of the ‘Save What You Love’ manifesto that opened the designer’s summer 25 runway show, a celebration of and call-to-action for birds inspired by author and birdwatcher Jonathan Franzen’s book The End of the End of the Earth.
The campaign also promotes what’s the label’s “most sustainable edit to date”, made with “96% conscious materials”.
So what about the human stars of the campaign, all of whom were shot by Ethan James Green in New York? Myha’la is an actor and advocate for representation in media as well as ending racism and homelessness.
Named Model of the Year at the Fashion Awards 2024, Alex Consani walked the runway show and featured in the Stella McCartney x Adidas Rasant trainer campaign. She’s a voice for inclusivity in fashion and support for trans children.
Actor, model and author Eva Mendes, who was also in the winter campaign, is an advocate for women and children and “uses her entrepreneurial initiatives for good, including a zero-plastic solution to consumer water”.
Award-winning Raye meanwhile “raises her voice for the injustices of the music industry, feminism and the environmental crisis, particularly its outsized impact on women of colour”.
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. posted its fastest pace of revenue growth in more than a year, as the Chinese internet pioneer co-founded by Jack Ma takes another step toward a recovery after years of turbulence.
The Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. headquarters in Hangzhou – Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg – Reuters
The company reported better-than-anticipated revenue gains in its two most important divisions: e-commerce and cloud services, which houses its AI endeavors. That hints at a bounce-back in Chinese consumption from post-Covid troughs, and initial success at beating back rivals from ByteDance Ltd. to PDD Holdings Inc. that in recent years eroded its market share. The company’s stock rose as much as 11% after markets opened in New York on Thursday.
Investors may have also been bullish because of Alibaba’s growing determination to compete in artificial intelligence. Chief Executive Officer Eddie Wu said Alibaba will spend more on AI infrastructure over the next three years as it did in the past decade. He went as far as to say that Artificial General Intelligence, or AGI, is the company’s “primary objective.”
“This is the kind of opportunity for industry transformation that really only comes about once every several decades,” he told analysts on a conference call. “So when it comes to Alibaba’s AI strategy, our first and foremost goal is to pursue AGI.”
The financial results show Alibaba is already righting a business knocked off-kilter by a government clampdown that began in 2020. It regained its footing after Beijing signaled a pullback in scrutiny in 2023. Joe Tsai and Wu — two of co-founder Jack Ma’s most trusted lieutenants — took the helm that year and refocused investment on AI and e-commerce. On Thursday, Alibaba reported a faster-than-projected 8% rise in sales to 280.2 billion yuan ($38.6 billion) in the December quarter, after cloud services revenue expanded its most on a quarterly basis in about two years.
That division, which houses the company’s AI-related projects and hosts computing power for external clients, grew revenue 13% to $4.3 billion. International commerce sales — driven by overseas marketplaces such as AliExpress and Trendyol — surged 32%.
Alibaba has gained some $100 billion of market value in 2025, though it’s still far from its pre-crackdown peak. Ma himself joined a select group of the biggest names in Chinese technology and business at a televised summit convened this week by Xi Jinping — signifying Alibaba’s return to favor after years in the cold. The gathering featured entrepreneurs across a broad swath of industry, notably from the sphere of artificial intelligence.
“Now that Alibaba has defended its main e-commerce business, and its side AI business is also booming, we could see Alibaba’s results flourish in upcoming quarters,” said Li Chengdong, head of Beijing-based Internet think-tank Haitun. “Their government relationship wasn’t in a good shape in the past few years and that must have led to a huge loss of clients. Now the AI business is finally reviving the group.”
Ma was the highest-profile casualty of Xi’s crackdown on the internet and private sector in 2020, when authorities scuttled the blockbuster initial public offering of Alibaba-affiliate Ant Group Co.
That episode kicked off a yearslong campaign to tighten state control over the economy, rein in the nation’s billionaire class and shift resources toward Xi’s priorities including national security and technological self-sufficiency. Once one of China’s most outspoken entrepreneurs, Ma largely disappeared from public view.
But authorities have taken a less combative approach as China’s economy slowed and companies aligned themselves with Xi’s push for leadership in areas like AI. Alibaba, which operates one of the world’s biggest cloud services platforms, wowed investors this year by making major headway in that arena during the post-ChatGPT era.
“The results show very good progress — a very clear ‘back to basics’ strategy is paying off,” said Jeffrey Towson, partner at TechMoat Consulting.
Since the advent of OpenAI’s chatbot, Alibaba has invested in a clutch of China’s most promising startups, including Moonshot and Zhipu. It prioritized the expansion of the cloud business that underpins AI development, slashing prices to win back the customers that fled during the turbulent years.
It also decided to spend big on AI, joining a race led by Baidu Inc. at the time. DeepSeek’s sudden rise to global prominence last month – a shock to both Silicon Valley and Wall Street — boosted Chinese tech stocks including Alibaba in recent weeks. Since then, Alibaba has unveiled a Qwen model that performed well in official benchmark tests and signaled the company’s growing relevance in the field. Apple Inc. is incorporating Alibaba’s AI technology into Chinese iPhones, a vote of confidence in its prowess.
On Thursday, Wu talked up Alibaba’s aspirations to ride the AI wave and develop AGI — the industry holy grail touted by prominent advocates from OpenAI’s Sam Altman to Masayoshi Son.
But like many of his peers, the Alibaba CEO stopped short of outlining a profitable use case for AI. It should however enhance services throughout the business, while Alibaba itself as an infrastructure provider should benefit, he said.
“We’re still in very early days when we’re talking about the advancement of artificial intelligence technology,” Wu said. “The future business business models and the future ways in which these models will be monetized are not necessarily clear to anybody today.”
Entertainment8 years ago