Missguided: Sports Direct owner Frasers Group buys fashion retailer after collapse

Sports Direct owner Frasers Group has bought Missguided for £20m, after the online fashion retailer collapsed into administration.

Chief executive Michael Murray said the group, which also owns House of Fraser, was "delighted to secure a long-term future" for the fast fashion company.

Some 87 staff will be made redundant and 147 are expected to move to Frasers Group, the BBC understands.

Administrator Teneo would not comment on job losses.

It will run the business for a transition period of around eight weeks. Frasers will then take it on as a "standalone business" within the group.

Missguided has suffered from supply chain problems, rising freight costs and increasing competition from rivals.

Suppliers had accused the business of leaving millions of pounds of debts unpaid.

Frasers Group confirmed it had bought the intellectual property of Missguided and its sister brand Mennace.

Mr Murray said: "Missguided's digital-first approach to the latest trends in women's fashion will bring additional expertise to the wider Frasers Group."

The Manchester-based business was founded by Nitin Passi in 2009 and grew to become one of the UK's biggest online fashion players. But in the last few years it has struggled to make a profit.

Last autumn it was rescued by the finance firm Alteri Investors, with Mr Passi stepping down as chief executive in April.

Missguided customers have been tweeting the company to complain that orders have not arrived, returns not processed and refunds not received.

Among them is Beth Davies, a 24-year-old business support manager from Sheffield, who ordered £200 of potential outfits for a wedding on Saturday.

She received a reply that said an IT issue meant her order had not been sent by next day delivery.

By then the news of Missguided's collapse had broken with i newspaper reporting the warehouse had been shut since Thursday - two days before Ms Davies placed her order.

"Yesterday I was at work feeling so frustrated," she said. "They said it's on the way when that's clearly a lie if the warehouse has been shut since last week."

New owners Frasers Group said fulfilment of orders was the responsibility of administrator Teneo, which declined to comment.

Prof Dilys Williams, director of the centre for sustainable fashion at London College of Fashion, said the company's collapse exposed the "fragility" of the fast fashion model.

She said many customers were becoming more interested in sustainability and moving away from cheap, throwaway clothing.

Missguided once had a lucrative sponsorship deal with reality dating show Love Island but this year the series has partnered with eBay to style the stars in second-hand pieces.

"The culture of being able to buy second hand and it being a great thing is a change in how people are thinking about fashion," Prof Williams told the BBC.

However, the brand had also faced increased competition from fast fashion rivals such as Boohoo and Shein, a Chinese company which saw its popularity surge during the pandemic.

Darcey Jupp, apparel analyst at GlobalData, said Frasers Group was taking a punt on Missguided as it was a different direction to its sports and premium brands.

"Operating Missguided as a standalone brand is a wise move, as its young target audience would not be inclined to shop at its other fascias like House of Fraser," she said.

She added: "Continuing its concessions in select Asda stores would be a good way to capture demand from convenience-seeking consumers."

The Frasers Group deal comes as it embarks on a modernisation strategy under a new boss, with plans to open up to 10 flagship Sports Direct stores across the UK.

Mr Murray took over from founder Mike Ashley - his future father-in-law - in May.

Missguided will become the latest troubled brand to join the group, after it snapped up Game, Evans Cycles, Jack Wills and Sofa.com in similar deals.

Retailers Boohoo, Asos and JD Sports had also been rumoured to be interested in a potential rescue deal.