Is Frasers Group plotting a Matches Fashion members-only comeback?
It's Matches fashion, but not as we know it. We may not have seen the last of the luxury e-tailer even though still-new owner Frasers Group put it into administration last year. A news report said a plan to bring it back in an almost unrecognisable form is being worked on.
The Times said Frasers is planning a 'members-only Matches Fashion relaunch' and it has seen an 'internal pitch deck' suggesting the luxury fashion webstore could be turned into what's been described as the 'Soho House of retail'.
In fact, the newspaper said Frasers — which also owns luxe retailer Flannels — had been drawing up the plan around the time it placed the business into administration.
Frasers hasn't commented on the report.
The diversified retail group had acquired ailing Matches for around £50 million in late 2023 but decided it was too big a task to turn it around at the time. Yet it bought back the brand name and intellectual property for £19 million in a pre-pack administration deal last April.
The report said the new proposal is being pitched to luxury brands and envisages a relaunch by the end of the year in the members-only format covering fashion and lifestyle. It would come with 'early access to exclusive products, luxury gifts and access to events in its London-based stores' on Welbeck Street and Carlos Place.
As well as being members-only, that membership could be invite-only along the lines of private members clubs.
The first phase would reportedly focus on womenswear with a launch for the SS26 season and with a later menswear expansion plus a move into other markets.
Former CEO Nick Beighton told The Times he thought Frasers' proposition was a 'good one' but the 'fall down will be whether [it] is able to get enough brands to want to work with them' after plenty of them had been left without payment when the business went under.
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