Shein exemplifies a new style of Chinese multinational

AMANCIO ORTEGAHM, founder of the Zara fast-fashion empire, got his start selling bathrobes in northern Spain. Erling Persson of & peddled women’s clothing in a small-town shop in Sweden for decades before going global. Xu Yangtian had none of their tailoring experience when he founded Shein (pronounced she-in) in 2008. Instead, the creator of the fashion world’s latest sensation was a specialist in search-engine optimisation.