New documents filed at Companies House have shown that influencer-linked fashion e-tailer In The Style owed £21 million+ ahead of its administration filing and purchase by an entity linked to its previous owner Baaj Capital.
In The Style
Alps Sourcing Limited bought it last week with 87 of its jobs having been saved.
City AM report that administrator FTS Recovery has filed the new document in which it said the company’s cash flow contained to be fragile in recent months “as a result of significant legacy contracts, at a time when the market has seen a significant downturn in sales” due to “the current economic climate and cost-of-living crisis”.
The board had said the contracts in question cost the company around £1 million since the new management takeover.
FTS added: “These cash flow pressures have led to a failure to meet contractual obligations, which in turn has led to negative publicity and damage to the company’s goodwill.”
There had been press reports citing a number of celebs/influencers saying they hadn’t been paid and when it filed for administration almost 200 unsecured creditors were owed more than £4.5 million.
The administrator also said it had contacted company founder Adam Frisby to see if he was interested in a rescue deal for the business but “this route was unfruitful”.
The Manchester-based fast-fashion label has had a rocky period in this decade. Having been founded by Frisby in 2013, it grew fast and listed on the stock exchange in 2021 with a valuation at one point of £105 million.
But its sale to Baaj for just over £1 million in 2023 showed just how tough the market had become in a short space of time.
It continued to be loss-making in the year to the end of March 2024, although the pre-tax loss of £2.6 million was narrower than the prior year’s £7.7 million deficit.
