Shein posted a $99 million loss for the first quarter, swinging from a $395 million profit a year earlier, according to a Hong Kong stock exchange filing the fast-fashion retailer released as it prepares for a long-delayed initial public offering. The disclosure is the first hard number on the earnings hit the Singapore-based company has absorbed since President Trump ended a U.S. import-duty exemption for small parcels last year.
The filing did not specify a size, price or timetable for the planned Hong Kong listing, but it quantifies damage fast-fashion operators had described only in vague terms. It arrives as U.S. importers in other categories warn that a fresh wave of tariffs announced last week has replaced a narrow set of duties they had learned to live with — one industry group told Semafor the change introduced "an exponential amount of uncertainty."
What the filing showed
Shein reported the $99 million loss, or £74.1 million, against $395 million in net income a year earlier. Active customers over the 12 months to March reached 281 million, a rise of more than 16 percent, with shoppers placing more than 1 billion orders across the year. The quarter also carried a $328 million paper loss tied to an accounting change on special investor shares that convert to ordinary stock at listing.
The tariff hit
"In response to the increased duties and taxes, we are pursuing a wide range of options, including increasing our prices in the US market to offset a portion of the increased costs," Shein said in the filing. The company blamed the removal of the U.S. de minimis exemption, which had let goods valued at $800 or less enter tariff-free. Trump extended that rollback worldwide in an order that took effect Aug. 29, 2025. Shein also said the Iran war had hit demand, increased costs and delayed deliveries in some markets.
Importers' warning
The Trump administration last week added levies on 60 economies and floated 50 percent tariffs on some Canadian goods, 100 percent duties on generic drugs and "substantial" tariffs on the European Union. Under the duties that lapsed Friday, "we knew what we were getting," Ed Brzytwa, vice president of international trade at the Consumer Technology Association, told Semafor, adding that "period of stability" is over sooner than expected. "I’ve always told people that we should expect more uncertainty in the fall, and actually now we’re seeing it in summer," he said. Brzytwa said importers cannot submit comments on the Canadian tariffs or gauge how the 60-country package will interact with an ongoing semiconductor investigation.
A senior administration official told Semafor last week that the churn is a natural outcome of a dramatic break with longstanding trade policy. Shein's Hong Kong debut also follows earlier failed attempts to list in New York and London, according to the BBC. Administration surrogates had not offered a fuller on-the-record defense of the new tariff wave by press time.
The China Securities Regulatory Commission approved Shein's Hong Kong share sale on July 10, and the listing is expected in the coming months. The European Union imposed a €3 levy on low-value e-commerce imports earlier this month.