Chinese online fashion giant Shein on Singapore hiring spree as it shifts key assets there
- A Singapore-registered company is now the legal entity operating Shein’s global website, government filings show
- Shein aims to quadruple the number of its Singapore employees by the end of 2022, sources said
China’s Shein is aggressively expanding its Singapore office after making a Singapore firm its de facto holding company, according to people with knowledge of the matter and a Reuters analysis of filings by the online fast-fashion retailer.
Chris Xu, Shein’s founder and CEO, has also become a permanent resident of the city state, according to a document.
Shein, which Xu started in 2008 in Nanjing and has since grown into a global fashion marketplace, last year deregistered its main business, Nanjing Top Plus Information Technology Co Ltd, a Chinese corporate filing shows.
The developments are in line with what other sources have previously told Reuters are revived plans by Shein to list in New York this year and Xu looking at a change in citizenship to bypass tougher Chinese rules for offshore IPOs.
Singapore-registered Roadget Business Pte, which lists Xu and three others as its representatives, was established in 2019 and since late 2021 has been the legal entity operating Shein’s global website, Singapore filings show.
Roadget also now owns Guangzhou Shein International Import & Export Co Ltd as well as Shein’s trademarks that were transferred from Hong Kong’s Zoetop Business Co, which had been involved in intellectual property disputes with global brands. In addition, Shein’s company profile page on LinkedIn shows Singapore as its headquarters.
Sources for this article were not authorised to speak to media and declined to be identified.