Shein, the online fast-fashion retailer founded in China, increased its UK sales by 26 per cent to £2.58bn last year, overtaking its British rival Asos, according to accounts filed at Companies House.
Pre-tax profits at the UK division rose 18 per cent to £45.2m, the accounts show. The company paid £11.2m in current tax, understood to be mainly corporation tax, up from £9.6m a year earlier.
The number of people employed by the group in the UK, mostly in sales and marketing, rose to 113 from 91 a year before.
The figures compare with UK sales of £2.05bn in 2024, when the division reported a pre-tax profit of £38.3m.
Shein said sales had been helped by a marketing partnership with the Wireless and Creamfields music festivals and a pop-up shop on Oxford Street in London. It also cited Christmas gift events in Edinburgh, Manchester, Liverpool and London.
The retailer’s model is based on shipping orders of low-cost clothes from Chinese factories direct to homes, with each order low enough in value to avoid import duties.
The UK’s “de minimis” rule allows overseas sellers to send goods valued at £135 or less direct to British shoppers without paying any customs duty.
Rachel Reeves, the former chancellor, said she would remove the rule by 2028. The Treasury’s response to its consultation on low value imports says the government has brought delivery forward by six months, to October 2028 at the latest.
Major retail bosses have said the government should move sooner. Sainsbury’s, Currys and AO World are among the names to have argued that the relief gives overseas rivals a structural advantage.
The US revoked its own exemption for Chinese-made goods last year. Under that exemption, parcels worth less than $800 (£600) shipped to individuals had been spared import tax. The change has slowed Shein’s expansion in the US.
The EU is also phasing out its exemption on customs duties for low-value parcels. The European Commission said a temporary €3 customs duty would apply from 1 July 2026 to parcels worth up to €150 imported from outside the bloc.
Shein’s global parent group listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange last month, valued at just over $26bn (£19.6bn).
The company had reached a valuation of $100bn in a fundraising round in April 2022, making it the third most valuable startup in the world at the time. It considered a £50bn ($66bn) float on the London Stock Exchange in 2024 before launching in Hong Kong.
Last week, in its first results since the float, Shein reported a 67 per cent fall in group quarterly profits to £173m. It blamed higher oil prices and freight rates linked to the war in Iran.
In July, a filing lodged before the listing showed a first-quarter loss of $99m. In that filing, Shein said the removal of the US exemption had had an adverse impact on its sales there.
Shein was founded by the entrepreneur Chris Xu. It runs most of its operations from China but sells all its goods outside the country.
The company moved its headquarters to Singapore at the start of 2022. It has recently begun manufacturing in other countries, including Turkey and Brazil.
After forced labour concerns were raised, Shein said it had tightened its supplier policies. It said these were enforced through regular audits, with any child or forced labour violations becoming grounds for immediate termination of contract.
