Fast fashion titan Shein's roaring growth: Rivals H&M and Zara as revenue edges past $30 billion

Founded in 2008, Shein is a Chinese online clothing store considered one of the prominent players in the fast fashion market. Since it's a private company, Shein doesn't need to publicly disclose its financial results.

Should Salter's estimates prove to be accurate, it would signify that Shein now surpasses the sales made by H&M and is competing toe-to-toe with Spanish giant Inditex, the brains behind brands like Zara and Pull & Bear, as reported by CNBC's website.

The mentioned website quoted Jamie Salter's words from the ICR conference in Orlando. Authentic Brands Group, the company Jamie Salter manages, is closely affiliated with Shein. This association prompted Salter to estimate the revenue of the Chinese giant.

Shein is not required to disclose its financial data, given that it isn't a publicly traded company. Regardless, Salter informs that it's growing at an accelerated rate. "It's conjectured that they secured $30 billion in revenue," Salter noted, speaking about Shein's earnings in 2023. "Did they hit $40 billion? Or perhaps $35 billion? I can't state with certainty, but it was significantly beyond $30 billion."

Assuming this to be accurate, Shein would have outpaced H&M, which posted sales of $22 billion in 2022 and matched Inditex, which recorded $32 billion in sales. Data for the year 2023 are not yet available. This has been reported by CNBC, which also mentioned that the most reliable figure to date is the one noted in "The Wall Street Journal" in May 2023. "WSJ" reported, citing its sources, that Shein's sales in 2022 amounted to $23 billion and a substantial increase was projected for 2023.

"If not the largest, Shein is the fastest growing fashion retailer in the world," emphasized Jamie Salter, as cited in a CNBC article.