Chinese “fast fashion” giant Shein went public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Tuesday and the results have not been encouraging.
\n\nThe company, once privately valued at over $100 billion, was only valued at $26.5 billion in its initial public offering (IPO) and its shares have slumped with each passing day.
\n\nMarket-watchers pronounced Shein’s debut on the stock exchange “flat” and “disappointing” given the amount of money that was once surging through the online retailer’s veins. Shein was a pioneer in the business model that combines online ordering, fast shipping, loose customs rules for small packages, and very cheap goods — a model that originally flourished by letting worldwide customers shop for a vast catalog of fashion items at bargain-bin prices.
\n\n“Fast fashion” eventually expanded to include many other products, driving the growth of competitors like Temu, whose name has become a slang term for shoddy knockoff products.
\n\nThe business practices of these companies attracted a great deal of negative attention in recent years — from their use of forced labor in China to keep prices low, to their abusive and predatory policies toward suppliers. Some Shein and Temu products were not only poorly made but outright dangerous to…
Original source: https://www.breitbart.com/economy/
