Chinese fast-fashion eCommerce retailer Shein is reportedly planning to add two distribution centers to the one it already has in the United States to get products to American shoppers three or four days quicker.
Shein opened its first U.S. distribution center in Indiana in April and is currently expanding its square footage by 50%. Another center is to be added in California in 2023, followed by a third in the Northeast at an unspecified date, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Thursday (Sept. 15), citing an interview with the president of Shein’s U.S. operations, George Chiao.
The company also plans to go on a multiyear “hiring spree” in the U.S., adding several thousand employees by 2025, according to the report. The U.S. accounts for a quarter of the privately held business’s gross merchandise value.
The report comes on the same day Shein announced in a Thursday blog post that its growing facility in Indiana is expected to generate a local economic impact of $175 million per year.
Shein expects to expand the facility and add 1,400 workers to the 1,000 it already employs there by the end of 2025, the company said in the post.
The facility will serve as Shein’s main distribution hub in the Midwest and will reduce the need for international shipping and handling, according to the post.
As PYMNTS reported in March, Shein was founded in China in 2008 and quickly tapped its manufacturing and international logistics muscle to turn around runway looks within weeks, priced for fashionable buyers on a budget.
Read more: SHEIN Solidifying Fast-Fashion Lead Over Amazon, Rivals
With its approach to inexpensive influencer fashion, SHEIN became the leader of the fast-fashion pack and then made its affordable fashions even more accessible to the younger demographics by adding buy now, pay later (BNPL) services through Klarna in 2020.
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