Fast fashion giant Shein has named Marcelo Claure its group vice chairman, the company announced Thursday.
Claure, a Shein investor, will “help accelerate strategic growth initiatives” across the company’s markets, per the release.
He was previously chairman of Shein Latin America, and he will continue to serve in that capacity with his new role.
After joining Shein in January, he oversaw the launch of Shein Marketplace in Brazil and the $150 million initiative to localize Shein’s manufacturing operations in the country, per the release. Shein estimates that initiative will create approximately 100,000 jobs over the next three years.
Claure will work with Shein founder and CEO Sky Xu and its executive chairman Donald Tang.
Prior to Shein, Claure was CEO of SoftBank Group International.
Shein Marketplace is the Singapore-based company’s initiative that allows local and international third-party sellers to offer goods on a Shein-branded site alongside Shein products. In May, the company said the move was intended to meet a growing consumer demand for variety. It launched in the U.S. and the company is planning an international rollout.
Shein has recently committed $155 million in funding across five years toward its environmental social governance initiatives. That money was earmarked to support the company’s “Equitable Empowerment” program, which focuses on improving the lives of Shein’s community. Fifty million dollars of the new funds will be directed toward aspiring designers, and $35 million will flow to “women, young people and the underprivileged,” per the company at the time. Part of the money is also allocated to its manufacturers.
Shein has faced recent scrutiny over labor practices in its supply chain. The U.S. House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party is asking Shein, Temu, Adidas and Nike to detail their compliance with the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, a law enacted in 2021 that bans products from the Xinjiang region in China.
Similarly, U.S. senators asked the United States Securities and Exchange Commission to halt any potential bids by the company to become public.
