The company – which was founded in China but is now headquartered in Singapore – is now preparing to file paperwork for a blockbuster listing, although this does not guarantee it would choose the UK market.
Both the Conservative and Labour parties have suggested they would support Shein listing in London.
Labour MPs recently met the retailer, saying afterwards that “raising investment, productivity and growth is one of Labour’s missions for government”. Jeremy Hunt held talks with Shein executive chairman Donald Tang in January, seen as a bid to convince the fast fashion retailer to choose London.
The retailer has grown rapidly to become one of the biggest in the world thanks to the rapid speed at which it can launch new products. However, questions have been raised about how it can afford to charge such low prices, with some tops selling for as little as £4.
US Senator Marco Rubio, a former Republican presidential candidate, said in April that there was a “high probability these companies have facilitated the importation of goods made with forced labour”.
Concerns have centred around Shein’s Chinese supplier-base. Most Chinese cotton comes from Xinjiang, where there is alleged forced labour of Uyghurs.
One of London’s leading fund managers said last week that allowing Shein to list in London would mean the City risked becoming a listing venue of “last resort” for companies with “dubious human rights records”.
Peter Hugh Smith, chief executive of CCLA Investment Management, said government support for a Shein float “sends the signal that the UK is willing to overlook significant human rights concerns”.
A Shein spokesman said: “Shein has a zero-tolerance policy for forced labour and we are committed to respecting human rights. We take visibility across our entire supply chain seriously and we require our contract manufacturers to only source cotton from approved regions.”