Shein's IPO collapsed its valuation 70% — from $100bn to $27bn

Shein's path to going public collapsed twice — in London and New York, over supply-chain concerns and environmental criticism — before the company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange at a valuation of about $27 billion on September 1, 2026, roughly 70 per cent below its private-market peak of almost $100 billion in 2022. Sustainability expert Ildiko Almasi Simsic told Euronews the discounted float proves 'investors now recognise ESG issues as direct threats to terminal value' — a shift she called the move of environmental and human rights issues 'from ethics to equity'.

The record that repriced Shein: a 2022 Greenpeace Germany investigation found hazardous chemicals above EU limits in seven of 47 products tested, with Shein pledging improvements — yet a 2025 investigation found 18 of 56 garments across eight countries still exceeded EU limits, including children's clothing, with phthalates and PFAS detected. Shein admitted two cases of child labour in its supply chain in 2023; a 2025 BBC investigation found workers at about 75 hours a week, against Chinese labour law; Public Eye's 2024 report found excessive overtime persisting.

Its draft prospectus carried the slogan 'We believe in doing well by doing good' — removed from the final document, per Public Eye — while only 10 per cent of IPO proceeds were allocated to sustainability. As it listed, France passed a law taxing ultra-fast fashion by volume and repairability, with per-item levies from 50 cents on underwear to €12 on a jacket this year, rising to a possible €19.50 by 2030; Beijing called the law 'clearly discriminatory' and threatened countermeasures.

A valuation of about $27bn against the roughly $100bn private peak of 2022 — a 70% haircut — plus France's new per-item fast-fashion levy.

The model being valued — thousands of new styles a day at single-digit prices — is the same model generating the labour and chemical findings.

Violations repeated after public pledges: chemical limits were breached again in 2025, three years after the improvement promise.

France's levy and the EU directive converted reputational risk into a priced, enforceable cost the valuation had to absorb.

When regulators can price your externalities, the discount investors apply stops being opinion and becomes arithmetic.

The Hong Kong float went ahead at the discounted valuation, with Shein insisting that 'commitment to sustainable and responsible growth is woven into the fabric' of the model; France's levy scale runs to 2030, and Brussels' due-diligence regime is phasing in behind it.