Xu Yangtian, the founder and chairman of Shein, who had remained thoroughly shrouded in secrecy even as the company gained huge popularity in the United States by selling ultra-cheap Chinese goods, finally made his first official public appearance on the 24th (local time).
Experts said his appearance in public 18 years after founding the company stems from a stalled initial public offering (IPO) and mounting, across-the-board regulatory pressure from governments around the world. The move is seen as a strategic choice to clear up uncertainty over the company's identity while formally strengthening consolidation with mainland China.
On the 24th, Xu Yangtian appeared at an event hosted by the Guangdong provincial government wearing a black suit and a maroon tie. It was not only his first public speech since founding Shein, but the first of his life. According to the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong that day, he said at the event that "Guangdong played a key role in Shein's global success." Xu Yangtian pledged to invest more than 10 billion yuan (about 1.8 trillion won) to build a smart supply chain system in Guangzhou.
Experts said the move was a last-ditch effort to revive momentum for a listing. The Financial Times (FT) reported that Xu Yangtian noted that "support from the Communist Party and local governments was essential to Shein's growth," adding that "as Shein faces hurdles ahead of an imminent listing, the company appears intent on shoring up its position in China."
Shein initially aimed to list on the New York Stock Exchange, the world's largest capital market, or nearby in Hong Kong. In 2021, it moved its headquarters to Singapore in a bid to scrub its Chinese image. Recently, to avoid stringent scrutiny by U.S. financial authorities, it turned its sights to a London listing. The FT pointed out that Shein has been struggling to list because it cannot find common ground between U.K. regulators and China's leadership over disclosure language on risks related to forced labor in Xinjiang. Xu Yangtian is in a contradictory position of showing loyalty to the Chinese government while also having to prove transparency as a global corporations.
With this speech, Xu Yangtian created a turning point for the stalled listing push and extended an olive branch to the Communist Party and local governments. Experts said the speech showed Xu's intention to once again strengthen cooperation with mainland China.
Xu Yangtian is known to have been born in 1984 to a poor family in Zibo, Shandong province. After graduating from Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Xu learned search engine optimization marketing at a corporations in Nanjing called Aodao and discovered the potential of e-commerce. In 2008, he founded Nanjing Dianwei Information Technology with Wang Xiaohu and Li Feng, which became the cradle of Shein. He then launched the wedding-dress site Sheinside in 2011 to knock on the door of overseas markets. That site became the springboard for Shein's rise into a giant fast-fashion empire.
Like other SPA (fast retailing) brands, Shein leveraged speed as a weapon to expand rapidly. Under the philosophy that "speed is everything," Xu Yangtian built a system that produces small batches first and immediately proceeds with additional production based on market reactions. To do so, in 2015 he moved the base from Nanjing to Guangzhou in Guangdong, where the apparel manufacturing ecosystem is developed. Shein consolidated thousands of small and midsize factories around Guangzhou like a spiderweb, cutting the time from design to product launch to just a few weeks. The result was using real-time data analysis to solve a process that takes traditional fashion brands months. The solid logistics network and manufacturing infrastructure in Guangdong became the driving force that allows Shein to roll out thousands of new items every day.
Naturally, Xu Yangtian's personal asset size grew rapidly. According to Forbes, as of July 2025, his net worth is more than about $9.1 billion (about 12 trillion won). The Bloomberg Billionaires Index puts Xu around the 80th-richest in the world. Even so, he keeps such a low profile inside the company that even employees usually do not recognize his face. Shein, too, has never once officially distributed a photo of Xu Yangtian.
But his appearance on an official stage is expected to change the mystique strategy he has maintained. As the leader of Shein, a company valued at $100 billion, it is difficult to remain in hiding with a listing ahead. Some, however, said that the more Xu Yangtian promises massive investments in Guangdong and appears to align closely with China, the more it could be a double-edged sword for entering the London market. That is because Western investors and U.K. authorities, sensitive to transparency and forced labor issues, are likely to grow more wary.
Shein is already under intense regulation and scrutiny in key markets such as the United States and Europe. The European Commission recently launched an investigation after reports that adult products for children were being sold on the Shein platform. The United States is also moving to abolish the de minimis rule, a duty exemption that applied to small parcels under $800 under the Trump administration. Direct hits are expected to Shein's revenue structure, which relies on the United States as its largest market.