Xu Yangtian, the low profile founder and chairman of online retail giant Shein, which sought to distance itself from China by moving its headquarters to Singapore, made his first-ever public appearance on Tuesday, praising southern Guangdong province’s role in the company’s global success.

Dressed in a black suit and burgundy tie, Xu, also known as Sky Xu or Chris Xu, pledged to “continue to take root in Guangdong” by investing over 10 billion yuan (US$1.4 billion) to build a “smart supply chain system” to forge “a world-class fashion industry cluster”.

“Every step of Shein’s growth is inseparable from the nourishment of this land,” Xu said at the High Quality Development Conference in Guangzhou, the provincial capital the company calls its “supply chain headquarters”.

Xu praised the “complete industrial ecosystem” in the region from apparel manufacturing to logistics, as well as the “first-class business environment” provided by local officials. He also said that “serving the high-quality development of Guangdong’s manufacturing sector” was regarded as the company’s “core mission”.

Shein was originally a wedding dress e-commerce site founded in Nanjing, the capital of eastern Jiangsu province, but expanded into general apparel and moved its headquarters to Guangzhou in 2015.

By 2022, the fashion retailer had relocated to Singapore amid its growing global influence and plans for an offshore listing.