What to Know About Shein’s Missguided Deal
Shein’s going big in Great Britain.
The ultra-fast-fashion e-tailer has acquired Missguided‘s intellectual property from Frasers Group for an undisclosed amount. Michael Ashley’s Frasers rescued Missguided from bankruptcy in June last year when it paid up to 20 million pounds ($25.2 million) to acquire the Shein competitor and its men’s focused sibling brand, Mennace. This deal with Shein means Frasers will keep Missguided’s real estate and operational know-how as its employees have been fully integrated into the company’s fashion division.
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“With I Saw it First and Missy Empire, we now have a foothold in women’s digital-first fashion. Retaining the combined Frasers fashion teams whilst rationalising our portfolio in this space to focus on fewer brands makes a lot of sense in the current climate,” Michael Murray, Frasers’ CEO, said on Monday. “We are also excited about the ongoing discussions around further collaboration between Frasers Group and Shein.”
Shein licensed the Missguided intellectual property to Sumwon Studios, a joint venture between Shein and Missguided founder Nitin Passi, who stepped down as CEO in April 2022 amid a restructuring that became a bankruptcy. Sumwon will be in charge of managing the brand. The product line will be manufactured using Shein’s on-demand production model, which leans on real-time insights to mitigate waste by making more product in response to actual market demand. The brand will be sold through Shein’s digital platform.
“The joint venture we have entered ushers in a new format of partnerships for Shein, as part of our unwavering commitment to meet customer demand,” Donald Tang, Shein’s executive chairman, said. “Shein aims to reignite the Missguided brand, capitalising on its unique brand personality, and fuelling its global growth through Shein’s on-demand production model, unparalleled e-commerce expertise and global reach.”
Last week, the Singapore-headquartered juggernaut released details on its expanded strategic partnership with Authentic Brands Group’s SPARC Group Holdings II LLC, a joint venture between Authentic and mall owner Simon Property Group. Shein owns a one-third interest in SPARC, which in turn became a minority shareholder in Shein. The expanded agreement will produce an exclusive co-branded Forever 21 line to be sold on Shein’s sites across the U.S., parts of Europe and Australia.
It wasn’t immediately clear what possible future collaborations with Frasers might entail. But Shein has big expansion plans for existing markets. Earlier this month, Shein said its first pop-up inside a Forever 21 store at Ontario Mills shopping center drew more than 7,000 attendees. That could be a big hint on the direction Shein might be exploring, given Frasers’ enormous retail store network. And whatever’s next for Shein and Frasers might shed light on why the Sports Direct owner has been building up bigger investment stakes in Boohoo and Asos.
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