The Rise and Fall of MatchesFashion

MatchesFashion was once one of the biggest names in luxury online retailing. It had a very loyal customer base both on and offline for it's great mix of upcoming and established brands. However, following a $1 billion sale to APAX partners, all of that was lost in three years, causing them to go into administration in 2024. It a real blow to luxury commerce, but it's even more of a blow to the young designers they once championed. They're now stuck in limbo waiting for any news as to what will happen with their product or if they will see any payment for their delivered goods. It's a very trepidatious situation and for now, one that doesn't have a clear end point.

Unless otherwise obvious, photos in this video are from Getty Images or Alamy under their editorial terms used for non-commercial websites, blogs and social media posts illustrating matters of public interest.

[snookasnerk]

i was technically part of the final round of redundancies that happened just two weeks ago (but had incredibly luckily seen the writing on the wall and landed a new role at another company), and the whole frasers take over was shambolic from the start - they truly had no intention of making matches work. after dropping administration on us overnight, the administrators strung along the remaining employees with the promise of contract transfers with the “new” owner (frasers were always going to buy it back), despite knowing frasers had only offered to buy back the name and IP. they made employees that handed in their notices during administration immediately redundant too. beyond my coworkers now being in incredibly distressing situations regarding employment, it’s sent ripples throughout the uk industry and those lost matches wholesale payments are going to damage so many independent brands. it’s a horrendously sad end to a brand that used to be part of the uk fashion industry’s backbone!

[zoolayuh]

Mike Ashley will be the death of retail in the UK, spoken from an ex employee let go on 08/03/24. From the moment they bought the business it felt like a bad omen😔

[Lutifah]

YOU LEGEND❤ thanks for doing my suggestion!!!

[FashionRoadman]

The UK retail landscape has changed drastically since I was a kid. It’s sad to see.

[TheGrifhinx]

"Governments protect money, not people"

Nothing, NOTHING could be truer

[hctuulj]

How about a video on the rise and fall of NastyGal? Thr clothes were awful IRL, but their website images were great. The models they chose and the way way the went about the photography was something else back in the early 2010s. They had a collab with Courtney Love that made the Tumblr girlies shiver

[moniqueclarke-w]

Having worked in retail and e-commerce for Matches both when it was just the Chapmans and once they stepped down the customer service was always top tier and the brands partneships were thought out. It is absolutely heartbreaking what has happened to Matches, those smaller brands and most importantly those who have lost their jobs

[we.test.things]

Can you do the rise and fall of Benetton? always been a fan, would like to know more about the brand 🙃

[katepadget-koh]

Another amazing video. Your work is impeccable.

[olivierlievre]

Very interesting reporting. I would have been very happy to talk to you to help you in your research. I worked for Matches from 1988 soon after their opening till 1995. I started as manager of the menswear boutique then ventually was the menswear buyer to finally be promoted in the final 2 years to general manager (and being a big part of the Richmond branch opening). I have so many stories to tell about working at Matches, its growth, clientelle etc... Tom was a visionary and alwasy ahead of trends or very good at spotting one coming! As for what made Matches so succesful at the beginnng: its customer service! just second to none. For instance flying over from Italy part of the Byblos collection specially for a client who was going on Holiday to Barbados!

[VuNguyen-fvjl]

They still haven’t shipped out my $6k order yet sigh

[zaddyshome_]

Interesting to see luxury fashion e-commerce juggernauts on the decline though the overall luxury e-commerce space seems to be growing. Looks like consumers are moving back to brand-own ecommerce sites. Matches in decline, farfetch narrowly avoiding collapse, SSENSE reducing their workforce, and Net-a-porter experiencing falling sales. Wondering if in the next 5-10 years we’ll see a turning point where these types of online retailers go extinct (or undergo significant change)?

[christinasteele]

Hi! A non fashion person here, I really enjoy your videos! Perhaps you could make a video explaining the basics of the industry? Like that a fashion house is, what is couture, etc.

[Up-jhye]

I love Raey not sure whats gonna happen to it. I feel boutiques have been having a hard time many brands now sell/market direct to customers

[NChe-nlok]

That was so interesting but sad too; shame to see the fall of a once great company. As soon I read that Mike Ashley bought it, I knew it was over.

[yogagirlification]

I’m from Australia and stumbled upon the Matches store on a visit in the mid-late 90s. I didn’t know anything about it but upon entry there was a definite buzz in the store, it was busy and people were excited. Everything was gorgeous, I purchased my first Dianne von Furstenberg dress from there!

[markjohnson]

Thanks for very the informative(as usual)deep dive. I know of some influencers who were working with Matches that have not been paid. I have not really heard much about Harvey Nichols in a very long time. How are they doing?

[Jersey]

I hope TJ Maxx and Marshall's buys up all that extra inventory from Farfetch and Matches Fashion

[pristine]

Brands not being able to get stock back whilst it’s being sold off to queues of people at The Box sample sale place is so dark. On the doorstep of so many peoples studios too. You could see from the Box stories that it was current season pieces from brands.

On another note, would love to see you do Ssense, I don’t think a huge amount is really known about the company, though I’m sure there’s loads of people that would love to spill.

[onabalona]

I tried to buy a £7k necklace from Matches in October 2022. The necklace I was after sold out while I was shopping; I emailed customer service to find out if they would get another. They took 8 DAYS to respond that they would find out and get back to me 🙄 thru never did. Insane way to treat customers. They were obviously going through it even then.