Shein, Reliance aim to sell India-made clothes abroad in a year: Report
The retailer launched in India in 2018 but its app was banned in 2020 as part of government action against China-linked firms amid border tension with its northeastern neighbour.
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Fashion Network
2 hours ago
- Fashion Network
Shein and Reliance aim to sell India-made clothes abroad within a year, sources say
Shein sells low-priced apparel such as $5 dresses and $10 jeans shipped directly from 7,000 suppliers in China to customers in around 150 countries. Its biggest market is the U.S. where it is adjusting to tariffs on low-value e-commerce packages from China which were previously imported duty free. The retailer launched in India in 2018 but its app was banned in 2020 as part of government action against China-linked firms amid border tension with its northeastern neighbour. It returned in February under a licensing deal with the Reliance Industries unit which launched selling Shein-branded clothes produced in local factories. In contrast, Shein's other websites mainly list goods from China. Reliance, controlled by Asia's richest person, Mukesh Ambani, has contracted 150 garment manufacturers and is in discussion with 400 more, said the two people, declining to be identified due to confidentiality concerns. The goal is 1,000 Indian factories making Shein-branded clothes within a year for both the Indian market and to service some of Shein's global websites, the people said. Shein initially wants to list India-made clothes on its U.S. and British websites, one of the people said. Discussions have been ongoing for months and the launch time of six to 12 months could change depending on supplier numbers, the person said. The scale of supplier expansion and export time frame is reported here for the first time. Shein has licensed its brand for domestic use to Reliance which "is responsible for manufacturing, supply chain, sales and operations in the Indian market," Shein said in a statement. In December, Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal told parliament that the Shein-Reliance partnership aimed to create a network of Indian suppliers of Shein-branded clothes for sale "domestically and globally". ON-DEMAND MANUFACTURING Shein is a fast-fashion behemoth earning annual revenue of over $30 billion through low prices and aggressive marketing. Most of its products are from China with some made in countries such as Turkey and Brazil. Its expansion in India mirrors interest in the country from the likes of Walmart and others throughout the global fashion and retail industries, particularly those looking for suppliers outside China due to the Sino-U.S. trade war. The Shein India app has been downloaded 2.7 million times across Apple and Google Play stores, averaging 120% on-month growth, showed data from market intelligence firm Sensor Tower. Offerings during its first four months have reached 12,000 designs, a fraction of the 600,000 products on its U.S. site. In the women's dresses category, its cheapest item is priced 349 Indian rupees ($4) versus $3.39 on the U.S. site as of June 9. Shein's Indian partner Reliance, which operates the app, is working with suppliers to assess whether they can replicate Shein's global best-sellers at lower cost, the two people said. Reliance aims to emulate Shein's on-demand manufacturing model, asking suppliers to make as few as 100 pieces per design before increasing production of those that sell well, they said. Executives from Reliance recently visited China to understand Shein's "innovative" supply chain operations, "data driven" design processes and "disruptive" digital marketing, Manish Aziz, assistant vice president Shein India at Reliance Retail, said in a LinkedIn post in which he called Shein's scale and speed "truly incredible". The partnership is one of dozens Reliance has with fashion brands, such as Brooks Brothers and Marks and Spencer. The firm also runs e-commerce site Ajio and its retail network competes with Amazon and Walmart's Flipkart as well as value retailers such as Tata's Zudio. Reliance plans to work with new suppliers to source fabric - especially fabric made using synthetic fibres where India lacks expertise - and import required machinery, the people said. The firm will invest in suppliers and help them grow which in turn will help the Shein-Reliance partnership go global, they said.
Deccan Herald
2 hours ago
- Deccan Herald
Shein, Reliance aim to sell India-made clothes abroad in a year: Report
The retailer launched in India in 2018 but its app was banned in 2020 as part of government action against China-linked firms amid border tension with its northeastern neighbour.
Economic Times
3 days ago
- Economic Times
Just a small mutation away? New China-linked virus could be next big threat
Agencies New China-linked bat virus could be next big threat A group of bat viruses closely related to the deadly Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) — and first identified in bats in China — may be just one small mutation away from infecting humans and potentially triggering the next global pandemic, scientists have warned. In a recent study published in Nature Communications, researchers revealed that a specific subgroup of these viruses, known as HKU5, shows worrying signs of being able to jump species, raising alarms about a possible spillover from animals to people. The study, led by researchers from Washington State University (WSU), in collaboration with the California Institute of Technology and the University of North Carolina, focused on a lesser-known subset of coronaviruses called merbecoviruses—the same family that includes MERS, which has a human fatality rate of approximately 34%. While most merbecoviruses appear unlikely to infect humans directly, one particular group, known as HKU5, is showing troubling potential. 'Merbecoviruses — and HKU5 viruses in particular — really hadn't been looked at much, but our study shows how these viruses infect cells,' said Michael Letko, virologist at WSU's College of Veterinary Medicine. 'What we also found is HKU5 viruses may be only a small step away from being able to spill over into humans.' Using virus-like particles engineered to contain only the receptor-binding portion of the virus's spike protein, the researchers demonstrated that HKU5 viruses can already use the ACE2 receptor—the same receptor used by SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. However, for now, HKU5 viruses bind more efficiently to bat ACE2 and do not infect human cells effectively—yet. The viruses were originally discovered in Japanese house bats (Pipistrellus abramus), but recent studies suggest some HKU5 strains may already be jumping to intermediate hosts such as minks, a key step that could lead to human infections.'These viruses are so closely related to MERS, so we have to be concerned if they ever infect humans,' Letko cautioned. 'While there's no evidence they've crossed into people yet, the potential is there — and that makes them worth watching.'The team also deployed artificial intelligence tools, such as AlphaFold 3, to simulate how HKU5's spike protein interacts with the ACE2 receptor at a molecular level. The AI-generated models matched results produced by traditional lab methods, but in a fraction of the time, significantly speeding up the understanding of how the virus might evolve and evade immune defenses.
