The Return of Shein: India Chronicles

SHEIN is making a comeback in India through its partnership with Reliance Retail, two years after the crackdown on Chinese ‘apps’

Shein is making a comeback into the Indian market- remember when apps such as TikTok, PUBG Corporation, CamScanner, UC Browser, WeChat, etc. were banned?

The Brand:

The fast-fashion retailer mainly aimed at young women, provides trendy yet affordable clothing and accessories. The company is based in China and operates primarily through its website and mobile app- though originally started in China, Shein has customers all over the globe and is a household name in western countries!

The Controversies:

The brand has not been withouts its fair share of controversies- right from environmental and health issues to offensive imagery used in its designs
- Allegations about sharing user data with third parties without explicit consent according to media reports in June 2020 (even before getting banned in India)
- Intellectual property infringement and lawsuits from Levi Strauss & Co., Dr. Martens plc, Ralph Lauren etc. for copying and stealing looks & designs
- Allegations of forced labour of Uyghur, an ethnic group in China and flouting labour laws across many countries

What has changed for Shein this time?

While Shein was founded in China, the headquarters are now based in Singapore. Therefore India may no longer consider it a Chinese entity.

Three years after the ban, the retailer is re-entering the Indian market through its partnership with Reliance Retail. Shein is also likely to source its fabrics for its global as well as local manufacturing operations from India, as part of a wider partnership arrangement with Reliance Retail. The partnership might include sourcing, manufacturing and retailing as well- and see Reliance Retail set up offline stores as well as mark its presence online, possibly on the latter’s AJIO.com platform.

Since its departure, many startups, such as Urbanic apart from behemoths such as H&M, ZARA SA, have begun supplying more affordable fashion clothing to Indian youth, so the brand may face some competition this time.

Nevertheless for Shein, India is a very big consumer market (which has been known to favour Shein!) and this is also an attempt to diversify its supply chains beyond China ahead of its upcoming IPO (this year in the US) which has been marred by SEC probing into the labour rules discussed above!