Shein’s Busy With Knockoffs and Nearshoring
Shein is continuing to build out its leadership stateside following the launch of its U.S. marketplace last month as it fights fakes and eyes new nearshoring opportunities.
The Singapore-based fast-fashion e-tailer posted a job listing for “head of US logistics” on LinkedIn late last month. The “mid-senior level” role will “mainly cover logistics business development, supplier management, cost saving and delivery process optimization,” the listing said. The Los Angeles-based position would function as a liaison between Shein’s HQ and U.S. teams.
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The job opening followed a slew of other listings first spotted by Marketplace Pulse founder Juozas Kaziukėnas in mid-April. The open positions included senior business developer, seller onboarding coordinator and account manager, all for Shein Marketplace and all located in California. The retailer has since posted openings for a senior business development specialist and business development manager, again for Shein Marketplace, as well as for an anti-money laundering and compliance officer.
The wave of hirings arrived amid the debut of Shein’s U.S. marketplace. The fast-fashion giant first launched its global integrated marketplace in Brazil in April before bringing it to the states last month. The platform hosts local and international third-party sellers on the Shein site alongside Shein-branded apparel products.
“By bringing new sellers onto Shein Marketplace that are aligned with our vision of making the beauty of fashion to all, we are creating increased value for our customers while enabling local businesses to grow with us,” Shein CEO Sky Xu said in a statement last month.
Just a month in, social media users are already spotting fakes from third-party sellers. This week, social media users piled on Shein for selling knockoff Jordan 11s on its sites. Described as “professional basketball sports shoes for men,” the product resembled Nike’s Air Jordan 11s in almost every way, minus the classic Jumpman logo. The shoes sold for $49.99, less than a quarter of the real deal’s $225 price tag. An Instagram post from the sneaker news source Nice Kicks highlighted the Air Jordan 11 bootleg, as well apparent copies of multiple Yeezy styles. The post has received roughly 28,000 likes so far.
@releaseexpert Shein is selling fake Air Jordans??? #sneakers #sneakernews #jordan11 #viral
♬ original sound – releaseexpert
A Shein representative said the company has removed the “product in question.” “Third-party sellers are required to comply with our Shein Marketplace policies and certify their products do not infringe IP,” the spokesperson said.
Shein plans Mexico factory
Following news of a $150 million investment in Brazilian apparel manufacturing in April, Reuters reported last month that Shein is exploring plans to build a factory in Mexico.
The factory, a part of the company’s efforts to localize production, would make Shein products, Reuters said, citing sources familiar with the matter. A final location has not been chosen. The expansion would rely on funds from the company’s recent $2 billion capital raise, Reuters said. Shein did not comment on the potential Mexico factory, but told Sourcing Journal it is “continuing to explore nearshoring options.”
“Shein’s localization strategy allows us to shorten delivery times to customers while expanding product variety and supporting local economies,” Marcelo Claure, chairman of Shein Latin America, said in a statement. He went on to say that the company is looking at how to bring the marketplace model to “other markets across Latin America.”
As Shein pushes forward in the U.S., politicians on both sides of the aisle have pushed back against it and, in particular, its IPO ambitions. Last month, nearly two dozen members of the House of Representatives urged the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to hold off on registering the e-tailer until it could certify, “free from state influence,” that it doesn’t use forced labor from China’s Uyghur minority.
The legislators cited “credible allegations” of the company’s use of underpaid and forced labor, including a Bloomberg investigation that used isotopic testing to find traces of Xinjiang cotton in garments ordered from Shein. The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), signed into law in December 2021 and implemented in June last year, imposes a “rebuttable presumption” that all goods made in whole or in part in Xinjiang are the product of forced labor and should be stopped at any ports of entry.
Shein claims it has no suppliers from the Xinjiang region and says it has “zero tolerance” for forced labor.
