In an interview with “Spiegel”, Donald Tang, who has been in office for two years, stressed that the Shein company has not talked enough about its business model. The online retailer was founded in 2012 and initially offered products for young women. The range has since been expanded to include men’s and children’s fashion as well as pet supplies. The aim is to help customers make affordable fashion accessible to everyone and to make their fashion dreams come true, says Tang.
With regard to transparency, the company wants to “answer all questions in the future”. Shein does not produce purely to order, but in small quantities such as 100 or 200 T-shirts. If demand increases, the production quantity is increased. If interest falls, the opposite is done. Shein’s return rate is lower than the industry average. According to the managing director, returns usually remain in the warehouses on the respective continents and are resold from there.
In the future, Shein also wants to act as a marketplace for other suppliers. Many brands are great at design but not so good at managing their supply chains, says Tang. “We believe we can help there.”
Meanwhile, Shein has set the goal of being climate neutral by 2050. At the same time, the company almost doubled its emissions last year, according to “Spiegel”. The company wants to continue to grow and at the same time become more local, says Tang. Shein products are also produced in Turkey and logistics centers in Poland and Italy are used for Europe. At the same time, the business model is being developed so that customers do not just buy their clothes for one occasion: “We don’t want people to consume too much. We want our customers to love what they buy,” says Tang. The company is also committed to preventing exploitation in production facilities. “We have to do more, we have tightened our standards,” says the executive chairman. Both the CEO and he himself have tied part of their income to achieving the ESG goals. (Editor’s note: ESG stands for environmental, social and governance).
Tang is cautious about plans in the USA and the EU to change the duty-free allowances for deliveries. Currently, deliveries with a value of up to 150 euros can be imported duty-free. Tang says he cannot say whether a corresponding new law will make deliveries more expensive. “The most important thing is to have a transparent supply chain.”
