Ultra-fast fashion giant Shein continues to attract heavyweight executive talent that will help guide the ship. Its latest onboarded heavyweight is Jessica Liu, former co-president at the Southeast Asian e-commerce giant Lazada, who joined the firm as its vice president of global brand operations.

According to Shein's LinkedIn post, Liu is responsible for "global brand partnerships." This is an interesting development, considering the platform has mostly been concentrated on its private labels Shein, Romwe and Sheglam. Shein has been contacted by TechCrunch regarding further details about its plans on global partnerships.

There are already indications that Shein aims to be a totally multidimensional marketplace with its horizontal expansion into home appliances, pet products and its most aggressive push since fashion -cosmetics that falls under the Sheglam brand.
Shein is projected to generate $30 billion in gross merchandise value in 2022, surpassing expectations according to Chinese news site 36kr. H&M sold 199 billion SEK ($19.3 billion) worth of products in 2021, in comparison. But Shein's low-margin, high-volume business is increasingly threatened by its Chinese peer Temu, Pinduoduo's overseas sibling. In the space of a few months, Temu has soared through U.S. app stores and sat at the top of all free apps for weeks.

Working with outside brands might be a quicker way for Shein to scale across product categories than relying on in-house development. Shein has mastered the management of its large network of contract manufacturers, but it is probably a stranger to the more glamorous world of brands. Already on Shein is Aukey, the electronics giant that took a big hit when Amazon cracked down on Chinese sellers last year.

Considering her background working with brands, Liu seems an ideal candidate for building out Shein's third-party business. Liu began her career in e-commerce nearly two decades ago at Amazon China before moving on to run the fashion and luxury arm of Tmall, Alibaba's online department store for big brands. Her stint with Lazada, a member of Rocket Internet, which Alibaba acquired, was less than two years.

Liu is just one of a few industry veterans hired by Shein recently to boost its talent pool, as the company seeks new areas of growth and comes under pressure to address Environmental, Social and Governance or ESG challenges. Former Bear Sterns investment banker Donald Tang also joined as an executive vice chairman as the company gears up for IPO process. Leonard Lin, who had spent nearly a decade at the Singaporean sovereign fund Temasek, will become the global head of Shein's government relations. In the U.S., Shein recently hired its first lobbyists and Disney veteran Adam Whinston as its global head of ESG.