Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group has sold the Missguided brand and intellectual property rights to Shein for an undisclosed sum, just over a year after it bought the online fashion retailer.
Shein, a fast-fashion company founded in China, will manage and license Missguided through Sumwon Studios, a joint venture it has set up with Nitin Passi, 40, the founder of Missguided. Shein will make the products and they will be sold on its website and on Missguided.com.
Frasers — which owns Sports Direct, House of Fraser and Flannels and is now run by Michael Murray, 34, the son-in-law of Ashley, 59, the group’s founder — will retain Missguided’s real estate and employees, which have been integrated into Frasers’ fashion division.
Murray said: “Retaining the combined Frasers fashion teams while rationalising our portfolio in this space to focus on fewer brands makes a lot of sense in the current climate. We are also excited about the discussions around further collaboration between Frasers Group and Shein.”
Frasers bought Missguided out of administration for £20 million last year when the company fell victim to supply chain problems, rising freight costs and increasing competition. Missguided, founded in 2009 by Passi, was among a small group of internet fashion businesses that grew in popularity as high street retailers struggled.
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The sector boomed during the pandemic, which is when Frasers started to build its own portfolio of fast-fashion brands, snapping up Missy Empire and I Saw It First. It has been building up stakes in Boohoo and Asos.
However, the fast-fashion sector has struggled since shops reopened after lockdown and as environmentally conscious consumers dial back purchases.
Frasers wants to rationalise the number of womenswear brands it holds. In July it put more than 100 jobs at risk of redundancy, including at Missguided, as part of streamlining.
Donald Tang, the executive chairman of Shein, said it aimed to “reignite the Missguided brand, capitalising on its unique brand personality”. He said he planned to fuel its “global growth”.
The deal marks Shein’s first acquisition of a British brand. The UK is Shein’s largest European market and one of its fastest-growing territories, with a turnover of £1.1 billion and a £12.2 million profit in the 16 months to December 2022. The company, which has its headquarters in Singapore, was valued at about $66 billion this year, lower than a previous valuation of about $100 billion. It is considering an initial public offering in the United States.
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Shein, which was founded in China in 2008, has become hugely popular with young western shoppers because of its use of social media, its rapid reaction to trends, and prices of about £5 per dress.
