Shein’s shares fell sharply below their offer price on Tuesday as the fast-fashion retailer made its long-awaited trading debut in Hong Kong.
The stock fell as much as 10 per cent in the first minutes of trading before closing almost flat at 48.50 Hong Kong dollars (€5.33). The company had priced shares at HK$48.56, in the middle of its range, raising HK$13.6bn and valuing Shein at just over $26 billion.
Goldman Sachs, as the initial public offering’s “stabilisation manager”, is likely to have stepped in and bought Shein stock before the market close to support its price.
The lacklustre debut comes in stark contrast to other recent IPOs in Asia, with memory-chip maker CXMT and humanoid robot maker Unitree both soaring more than 400 per cent in their trading debuts.
“What the consumer sectors offer just doesn’t seem to be particularly compelling compared to technology at the moment,” said William Bratton, head of cash equity research for Asia-Pacific at BNP Paribas.
Shein’s IPO value represents a sharp fall from its peak. Pandemic lockdowns and social media hype from “Shein hauls” drew young consumers to its affordable fashion and earned the company a valuation of about $100 billion following a 2022 private fundraising round.
However, investor enthusiasm began to ebb later that year and the next fundraising valued Shein at $66 billion.
Its previous attempts to list in New York and London were derailed by opposition from politicians and regulators amid scrutiny of its Chinese supply chain. In July, Chinese regulators approved its application to list in Hong Kong.
The company is now one of the world’s biggest listed fashion groups, with a valuation roughly equal to Swedish retailer H&M, although both are worth far less than Zara owner, Inditex’s market capitalisation of about $213 billion.
Kenny Ng, a strategist at brokerage Everbright Securities International, said Shein had faced significant challenges in recent years. The company is battling trade investigations in the EU and US and lost a tax loophole that benefited its business.
“The market is adopting a wait-and-see attitude regarding the international trade policy environment and the recovery of global consumer sentiment,” he said.
Shein’s net profit fell to $2 billion last year after peaking at $3.4 billion in 2024, while net profit margins narrowed sharply to 4.9 per cent from 8.7 per cent over the same period.
The company reported a net loss of $99 million in the first quarter as it flagged the risks of US and EU trade tensions to its business. In May last year, Washington scrapped a tariff exemption for small packages that Shein had used to ship clothing directly to customers in the US. The EU has since closed a similar loophole. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2026