Among major international brands, emerging designers, renowned runways, and small artisan workshops, Barcelona has woven for decades a vibrant and constantly transforming fashion ecosystem. Now, this creative scene welcomes a new global player: the Asian giant Shein, which lands in the city with corporate offices aimed at boosting its growth in Europe and strengthening its presence in Spain , one of its major strategic markets. "The choice of Barcelona was completely natural," he stated Alessandra Bonito , Shein Spain's Public Relations Director, during the presentation of the new headquarters in the city. "We not only wanted to get closer to one of our most important markets in Europe, but also to integrate into a creative ecosystem where entrepreneurship and major fashion references coexist." An ecosystem that Shein already knew firsthand, having experienced the enthusiasm of the local public, with long queues in the multiple pop-up stores that Shein has deployed in the Catalan capital. A pop up model that they assure works for them and that they will continue to repeat. The new office in the Catalan capital is part of Shein's international network of more than 40 centers and 18,000 employees spread across the world. In Spain, the Asian giant landed in 2023 , opening an office in Madrid that already employs a dozen people. Now, the company is doubling down on this market with a new office in the Catalan capital, which currently has a team of eight professionals working in areas such as marketing, branding, and trend analysis . The team is entirely composed of women, with an average age of 35. A figure that the company does not rule out expanding in the coming years, assuring that Spain is one of its three main markets in the European Union. However, the design and production areas will remain concentrated in their Asian offices, from which they operate in more than 160 countries . Likewise, the company inaugurated at the end of 2025 a mega-warehouse of 740,000 square meters in the Wroclaw region (Poland) that serves as a distribution center for the entire European continent. The center in Barcelona works in areas such as marketing, branding, and trend analysis © Shein Although the Barcelona team only works in the areas of communication and
branding, from Shein they assure that this office represents "a strategic step in its expansion", in the words of
Vorada Hiransomboon , director of branding . "The response from Spanish consumers has been very positive and that has given us confidence to get even closer to the local market," Bonito added. In addition, from its centers in Spain they will also be able to understand firsthand the tastes and habits of the Spanish consumer. In fact, the Shein group launched, within its ecosystem, at the beginning of 2025 the brand
NOÏSTA, inspired by the Mediterranean style . Born from the fusion between the Catalan word
noia and
fashionista, the style seeks to connect with women between 22 and 35 years old, both in Spain and internationally.
Míriam Victoria , founder and president of the Moda Catalunya i Balears Association, assures that "having direct contact with the company (thanks to the new offices) facilitates customer trust." Vorada Hiransomboon, branding director of the company; Míriam Victoria, founder and president of the Moda Catalunya i Balear Association; and Alessandra Bonito, Public Relations director of Shein Spain. © Shein The company has also expressed its intention to increase the presence of Catalan brands in its marketplace . This model allows local brands to retain their identity, positioning, and pricing policy within the Shein platform. Currently, more than 1,000 companies worldwide sell their products under this system , including Catalan firms such as Bosanova and Misako .
Shein's arrival coincides with a moment of momentum for Barcelona as a European fashion capital, thanks also to the municipal strategy of the Fashion Plan, launched in 2025 with the aim of mobilizing 1.3 million euros annually to strengthen the sector and attract talent , companies, and innovative projects. "We wanted to be part of this ecosystem. Catalonia is the community that contributes the most to the fashion industry in Spain," Bonito remarked.
A global story with local ambition Founded in 2008 by Chris Xu , Shein began as a small digital platform focused on wedding dresses under the name SheInside. The great expansion came in 2012, when the founding team —Xu, Molly Miao, Ren Xiaoqing, and Gu Xiaoqing— relaunched the brand and opted for a data-driven digital model and on-demand production. The company was born with a very clear objective: "to ensure that fashion was accessible to everyone," with a wide variety of garments and popular prices. However, the company's biggest challenge remains improving its image, marked by controversies related to sustainability, labor conditions in its factories, and even several accusations of plagiarism. Bonito has defended the brand's model, highlighting that it allows minimizing production surpluses: "we only produce between 100 and 200 units of each product initially. Then, based on market response, we decide whether to continue with production." The company, in fact, has invested only in recent years up to 250 million euros in actions related to sustainability. Shein currently operates in more than 150 countries. © Shein
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