Debenhams, the online retailer that changed its name from Boohoo last year, has sold its Nasty Gal fashion brand to US firm WSG Brands for just under £12 million.
Debenhams chief executive Dan Finley described Nasty Gal as a "non-core" business and said the sale would help strengthen the company's balance sheet as part of its turnaround effort.
Finley said: "Our turnaround continues at pace. The disposal of this non-core asset aligns with our strategy and further strengthens the balance sheet following the £90m sale of our Sheffield Distribution Centre."
Nasty Gal's history
Debenhams paid just under £15 million to buy Nasty Gal out of bankruptcy in February 2017. The women's fashion label was founded by Sophia Amoruso as an eBay shop selling vintage clothing while she was a student in California in the early 2000s.
Amoruso was named one of the world's richest self-made women by Forbes in 2016, but Nasty Gal's fortunes later soured amid declining sales and costly lawsuits. Her early years building the company were depicted in the Netflix series "Girlboss," based on her autobiography.
Celebrities including Emily Ratajkowski and Cara Delevingne have launched fashion collaborations with Nasty Gal.
Sales and competition pressures
Debenhams said Nasty Gal generated £12 million in sales and £400,000 in profit in its most recent financial year.
In recent years, Debenhams' youth-focused brands, which also include Boohoo and PrettyLittleThing, have lost shoppers to the ultra-cheap Chinese retailer Shein and to the resale platform Vinted.
Wider restructuring
The Nasty Gal sale follows Debenhams Group's sale of its Sheffield distribution centre to Primark last week for £90 million. The group has been shifting away from holding large amounts of its own stock and moving toward a marketplace model, in which third-party brands sell through its platforms in exchange for a fee.
Fast-fashion firm Boohoo bought the department store chain Debenhams out of administration in 2021, closing its physical shops in a major blow to the High Street and switching the business entirely online. Finley has pledged to use the Debenhams brand, which is fronted in a fashion campaign by Sex and the City star Kim Cattrall, as a "blueprint" for turning around the wider group's fortunes.
Last year, Debenhams said it was considering selling its Manchester-based brand PrettyLittleThing. In January, the company said it was "pleased with the pace and scale" of its revival and pointed to "the resulting material improvement in profitability."
About the buyer
WSG Brands owns a number of fashion retailers, including Von Dutch, whose apparel and caps were popular among Hollywood celebrities such as Paris Hilton in the 2000s.
