Missguided collapsed on Monday owing millions to suppliers, laying off 87 staff employees and the Founder & CEO, Nitin Passi stepping down. The fast-fashion e-retailer that focuses on a digital first approach, was seeing the highest numbers in sales during the pandemic.
However, sales decline rapidly once physical stores reopened and in the last few weeks had not been able to pay suppliers and customers complaining they aren’t receiving orders. Nadeem Arshad, the owner of Manchester-based fashion supplier Moku, said his business was “on the brink of collapse” as it was owed almost £500,000 for recent orders and was “now seeking legal advice and joining forces with other suppliers who find themselves in this catastrophic position”. said to The Guardian.
In addition to a shift from customers buying online to offline, fast fashion company’s are battling China’s SHEIN who has become top online retailer for fast fashion.
Today, the company sold to Frasers Group, the shopping empire founded by Mike Ashley that owns House of Fraser and Sports Direct, to clean up the mess and properly manage Missguided.
Michael Murray, the boss of Frasers Group and son-in-law of Mr Ashley, said: "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." said to New’s Sky.
Update: As of June 2nd, Missguided has has closed down their website, with a message saying, "Our maintenance pixies are currently working their magic on the site. We'll be back with you soon, in the meantime check our our blog or get help on an existing order through our customer care team..."
