Ultra-fast fashion giant woos Australian brands
It’s a deal that ambitious fashion brands hoping to crack the global market can only dream of: access to half a billion customers in 160 countries; clothing made mainly to order; and leaving the burden of back-end operations and logistics to an advanced global operator that has spent 14 years perfecting its AI-powered business model.
This is ultra-fast fashion giant Shein’s pitch to Australian fashion brands in the hope they will be accepted as applicants for the Xcelerator programme, which acts as a global launchpad.
“We are looking for digitally savvy brands in Australia that will add distinctive and complementary value to Shein offerings,” said Shein senior director Cui He. “I believe there are a lot of them. So we’d really like to chat with them.”
Shein describes its Xcelerator program, which first launched as a pilot in Britain in 2023, as a “global brand partnership platform” that serves as a springboard for emerging or established brands to scale rapidly by “connecting” to Shein’s extensive supply chain network of on-demand apparel manufacturers, global logistics, fulfillment and distribution, and e-commerce platform.
Since launching in China and France, Xcelerator now has 20 brands in its lineup. The most notable of these is British label Missguided, which was re-released in 2023 via Xcelerator. Others include Dancing Leopard, Cosmina, Athiral, Jian Lasala, Arc by Sigmas and Sumwon Studios.
There is no doubt that this helped them reach an international scale: together the revenue from participants exceeded $400 million, and a large part of this was thanks to Missguided’s contribution.
The idea is simple: The brand designs the clothes, samples and tests them, and retains control over the label’s intellectual property and creative direction. In response, Shein offers “supply chain as a service” to its industry peers, turning competitors into business partners and opening up new revenue streams in the process.
“The brand will develop the product, present the brand, and they will determine the pricing,” He said. “We would manage all kinds of behind-the-scenes things like sampling, production, as well as e-commerce platform management.”
Shein wants you to apply, especially if you are a swimwear or menswear brand.
“We look for brands that already have their own identity. They know who their customers are. They have a very strong brand identity, visual identity, as well as merchandising capabilities,” said He, who leads the Xcelerator program. “It is very important to understand e-commerce.”
In Australia, the Singapore-based clothing behemoth, along with rival Temu, is eating up an increasing share of our wallets. Nearly 2.9 million Australians spent nearly $2 billion on Shein last year, according to the latest data from Roy Morgan. Through Xcelerator, Shein is asking Australian brands to join the same platform that has led to its own global success, often at the expense of smaller players.
The big question is: Would many Australian record labels want to be a part of this?
“Brand association is one of the most powerful and fragile assets a fashion business has,” said fashion consultant Elizabeth Formosa.
“Partnering with Shein means your brand is embedded in an ecosystem that faces constant scrutiny around labor practices, intellectual property and environmental impact. It’s not just an ethical equation, it’s a reputation equation.”
Mechanics of the Shein machine
Founded in 2008 by Chinese American entrepreneur Chris Xu, the organization now known as Shein was then called ZZKKO and focused on search engine optimization and wedding dress sales. It operated largely as a dropshipping company for women’s clothing, shoes and accessories in 2011 and has expanded into international markets such as Europe and Russia. In 2015, it was renamed Shein, which was said to be easier for customers to remember.
The online shopping boom during COVID lockdowns accelerated its growth in the 2020s, pushing Shein’s valuation from US$30 billion to US$50 billion. But geopolitics changed Shein’s playing field: U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order to eliminate the de minimis “loophole” subjected small packages to high tariffs, forcing Shein to raise the price of its products.
To diversify, Shein decided to shift his focus to less hostile regulatory environments such as France, Germany, Brazil and Australia.
“Australia is a highly developed e-commerce market with a large number of digitally native e-commerce brands,” He said. “This is our most important target market. We believe in it [are] great opportunities.”
But Shein’s biggest problem is discrediting his reputation for fueling overconsumption by producing low-quality clothing for the masses. A 2025 study by Greenpeace covering 56 substances found that 18 substances exceeded the European Union’s acceptable limit of hazardous chemicals. Accusations of slave labor have been raised repeatedly in the supply chain, which Shein has tried to correct by publishing a sustainability report and auditing suppliers more aggressively.
Common customer complaints include thin fabrics that tear after a single wash; inconsistent sizing due to the thousands of suppliers it uses; and loose buttons or sequins that could pose a choking hazard.
Shein Director He acknowledged that quality is one of the company’s biggest challenges and said addressing this issue is a top priority for leading executives.
“There [are] different opinions, but in fact there [are] so many people, so many loyal customers, [who] “I will go back to Shein because of its quality and value for money,” he said.
“I think there is more we need to do in terms of communication and local engagement to debunk this misconception that Shein is not on the quality side.”
Moving into the more premium end of the market is one way Shein is trying to strengthen its legitimacy. Although mostly known for $9 T-shirts, he said you can now find boutique-style labels flogging high-end items made with higher-quality materials, designs and details for $80.
But Formosa said it was a common view among Australian brands that they were feeling pressure from global disruptors such as Shein and its associated “race to the bottom” on price.
“For these brands, partnering with Shein can feel like an important compromise, not just strategically but in terms of what their brands represent.”
Shein also says the “on-demand” business model does the opposite of adding to landfill: It produces batches of 100 or 200 items of clothing at any given time, and only produces more if there’s demand.
The country’s leading advocacy body for the fashion industry is skeptical. “Shein’s business model creates a fundamentally uneven playing field for Australian brands and designers,” Australian Fashion Council executive chair Marianne Perkovic said.
“Australia is already the world’s largest consumer of fashion per capita, with more than 200,000 tonnes of clothing thrown away every year, and Shein’s model is built on accelerating exactly that cycle.”
Despite Shein’s claim that he maintains control of the brands’ intellectual property rights, over the years he has amassed a number of legal disputes that have often been resolved privately in many countries, including Australia. Online-only fashion site The Iconic sued Shein for trademark infringement, which was eventually quietly settled.
Warning that long-term regulations may be difficult to resolve, Perkovic said that the exit strategy should also be examined carefully. “Terms related to exclusivity, pricing control, customer data and brand assets deserve as much attention as revenue projections,” he said.
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Jessica Yun is a business reporter covering retail and food for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect with: X or email.
