Chris Xu: Who is Shein’s mysterious billionaire founder?
There are only two public anecdotes about Xu Yangtian, also known as Chris Xu – the mysterious billionaire founder of Shein. One positive, one negative. They both – if true – hint at the determination and ruthlessness needed to build a global empire in the savagely competitive world of fast fashion.
In one, shared widely across Chinese media, an anonymous supply chain worker talks of visiting the company’s Guangdong headquarters.
“No matter when you go,” the worker says, “even if it is two or three o’clock in the morning, you can find Xu Yangtian and his team. Always in meetings, never lazy, and always trying to learn all the good things about you.”
The other anecdote is less flattering. According to two former business partners and colleagues, after having successfully built an e-commerce company together, one day they turned up and he was gone. Allegedly taking the company’s PayPal accounts with him, Xu ignored their calls and “kicked [them] out of the game”.
Alone, Xu went on the establish a company that would reach a $100bn valuation within a decade.
In a funding round earlier this year, Shein was valued at more than Zara’s owner Inditex and H&M combined. Last week it announced a new executive hire to spearhead its expansion to Europe, Jacobo Garcia Miña, whose CV includes senior roles at Inditex and Britain’s luxury Burberry label. He will oversee operations from Dublin, as Shein prepares to open pop-up stores in major European cities this summer.
Its brand recognition, particularly among young shoppers, is already enormous. Even if you have never visited its site or app, your browsers and social media platforms have more than likely fed you its ads.
Xu is among China’s richest men, but is far less well known than figures
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