Frasers Group has bought Missguided out of administration, and says it will operate as a standalone business within the group.
The group has spent £20m cash to buy intellectual property related to Missguided and its menswear brand Mennace, founded in 2017 from the administrators.
Michael Murray, chief executive of Frasers Group, says: “We are delighted to secure a long-term future for Missguided, which will benefit from the strength and scale of FG’s platform and our operational excellence. Missguided’s digital-first approach to the latest trends in women’s fashion will bring additional expertise to the wider Frasers Group.”
The move comes days after Missguided called in administrators from Teneo Financial Advisory. Administrators will run the company under a transitional arrangement for about eight weeks. Missguided will then run as a standalone business within the Frasers Group.
Administrators earlier this week said Missguided had failed as the cost of running the business continued to rise, but shoppers were less confident to buy. It cited “increased supply chain costs, general cost inflation and softening consumer confidence in an increasingly competitive market”.
Commenting on the acquisition, Marcel Hollerbach, CIO of Productsup, says consumers’ interest in buying more sustainably also played a part. He says: “Missguided collapsed from a combination of factors, and while the cost of living crisis undoubtedly puts a strain on retailers, perhaps the most detrimental element to their demise is because the fast fashion giant fell short of meeting changing consumer expectations.”
He cites Productsup research that suggests 67% of shoppers are more likely to buy if they see clear information on sustainability.
He adds: “Research also shows the top priority for consumers is purchasing reusable (71%) and recyclable (70%) products. Therefore, brands must prioritise accurate product information on sustainability credentials if they are to appeal to this new era of eco-conscious consumers. Businesses looking to engage sustainable-conscious consumers will need to ensure their tech stacks can handle the multidimensional, multidirectional flows of product information to support faster speeds, more channels, and new innovations.”
Missguided was founded by Nitin Passi in 2009 to sell fashion to women aged between 18 and 34. The fast fashion retailer sells exclusively own brand clothing, with about 400 new lines a week developed by an in-house design team to reflect emerging new trends. Today it serves 3m active customers online, delivering to more than 180 countries around the world.
The Manchester-based retailer previously went through a restructuring process at the end of 2021 as it looked to better match its costs to its performance.
Missguided is a Top250 retailer in RXUK Top500 research.
