Chinese fast fashion major Shein has reportedly made a comeback to India through a partnership with Reliance Retail.
Shein, the Chinese fast-fashion giant, is returning to India nearly five years after being banned. This time, it is re-entering the market through a partnership with Reliance Retail, a company owned by billionaire Mukesh Ambani. The app is available on both Google Play Store and Apple's App Store.
According to the Google Play Store and Apple Store, the Shein app already has more than 10,000 downloads and ranks ninth among its competitors.
The Shein India Fast Fashion app represents a departure from Reliance’s strategy of adding brands to its flagship fashion app Ajio – whose offering includes Superdry and Gap – as it competes with rivals such as Myntra from Walmart’s Flipkart.
Shein, founded in China in 2012 and later headquartered in Singapore, offers a vast selection of low-priced Western clothes. Its app was banned in India in 2020 alongside other Chinese apps such as ByteDance’s TikTok due to data security concerns, after a border dispute soured Indo-Chinese relations.
Last year, India’s government disclosed to parliament that Reliance had entered an agreement with Shein under which Indian manufacturers would supply products under the Shein brand. It did not make any other details public.
Reliance will pay a licence fee for using Shein’s brand name, said the person with direct knowledge of the matter. There is no equity investment in the partnership, the person said, without elaborating on financial arrangements.
All Shein-branded products sold through the app are designed and made in India, said a second person with direct knowledge of the matter. The clothing will later be made available on Ajio, the person said, without providing a time frame.
Shein aims to list in London in the first half of the year. It ended its attempt to list in the US following objections from lawmakers who questioned China’s requirement for businesses to seek approval to list abroad, Reuters has reported.
Source: Reuters
