The Rise and Fall of MatchesFashion
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- Опубліковано 1 жов 2024
- 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.
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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!
The way they split matches apart was really brutal. Im so truly sorry you had to go through that. Im glad you had a job lined up but it mustve been very stressful to watch the ship sinking around you through no fault of your own
@@understitchYT it was definitely an incredibly stressful situation with lots of tears from everyone! some people had spent decades of their lives with the company, only to get a five minute zoom call that said it was over -
employees were fighting for brands and suppliers to be paid what they were owed or receive their stock back wherever they could, but no dice.
thank you so much for the in depth video on the company history (realising i never said this in my original comment!), i think there’s a lot to be learned from both the end of matches itself and the fact the actions of mike ashley and murray - and before that, phillip green - are for the most part protected by the uk government.
@@snookasnerk I can only imagine how awful it was, then only made worse by how sudden it was. Im very glad to hear everyone was fighting for the brands, but youre right that the gov protects the bigger investors as theyre more valuable financially to the gov. It's kind of how they play the system too thats the difficult thing because they seem to know the law and work arounds far better than anyone which *could* be a good thing, to have power in the people, but the motions they put in place, though genius, are often rather heartless and selfish (the example that comes to mind is the billion pound bonus Green's wife got that went immediately abroad).
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😔
Why ?
Because he breaks up businesses, he had a very no nonsense approach to retail. Personally I dont think he’ll be the death, it looks bleak now but I think itll be good fresh new ground for new businesses to grow on soon (not that itll be easy
What was once called in business ‘asset stripping’ buying a company with no desire to ‘save it’ just sell off its assets, exploit ‘loop holes’ ie pension funds and ‘screw the staff’ as per philip green and Debenhams, or the goldsmiths and Cavenham foods……
Disgusting.
Its not business or entrepreneurship simply profiting from others ideas, hard work and assets………
Should be illegal but obviously its not in a capitalist economy……
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
I would love to actually, they had an interesting growth too
I bought from them only once. The quality was so bad I vowed never to go on their site again and haven't.But yeah I've seen the Courtney Love dresses on Pinterest, look lovely
"Governments protect money, not people"
Nothing, NOTHING could be truer
Wish it wasnt true but Ive been proven otherwise too many times
The UK retail landscape has changed drastically since I was a kid. It’s sad to see.
I really do miss the high street. It was pretty much dead by the time we were kids already, but without it theres nowhere to go for rural folk
Can you do the rise and fall of Benetton? always been a fan, would like to know more about the brand 🙃
Might be very interesting, actually, they’ve had some extremely famous adverts
@@understitchYTyes please, please 🙏🏼 do one for Benetton (do it for a fat cat like me ;) They had such a unique personality. Their adverts were truly groundbreaking. I remember seeing their “Man dying of AIDS” (I know it’s dark) ad and being struck by how a company dared to bring such a topics into public discussion. Would also be great to learn more about the Benetton family. Thank you as always for all the amazing work.
YOU LEGEND❤ thanks for doing my suggestion!!!
It was a great suggestion 🙌
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)?
Luxury ecommerce is in quite slow expansion now, the boom has really calmed and for any of those businesses expecting to keep growing is hard when theres only so much new space made available. They say if youre not growing with the market growth can only come from cannibalisation. But who has come out on top? Seemingly noone. A bit scary
They still haven’t shipped out my $6k order yet sigh
Ooff thats a lot of rent
Another amazing video. Your work is impeccable.
Thank you so much 🙌
Should I place an order? They just start the sales 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
ofc we need summer fits
I’m scared they won’t send it!
If you're in London, they've been having a sample sale in Hackney this weekend... I'm pretty conflicted, I love a good sale but I'd prefer for them to stay around😢
Going to a sample sale will help them reduce debts 🤔
@@Lutifahsame! I’ve been tempted to shop but what if they don’t send?
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
Yeah, outside of vintage, customers seem to be curating their own brand interest through Instagram. Though, i wonder if thats soon to change with the way Instagram is goin
I love you Understitch but you need to step up your pronunciation game: it's bottega "VÉNETA" not "venéta". Sending love from the Véneto region, Italy
Thank you
I hope TJ Maxx and Marshall's buys up all that extra inventory from Farfetch and Matches Fashion
I believe its gone to Walmart, unless thats just a meme and Im mistaken (I havent paid much attention because its in the US ngl)
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.
Yeah it makes me sad too. I was always more of a FarFetch person, but I understoodhow important it was to so many
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
Im so glad you had the good experience while it lasted though, thats very fortunate at least
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?
I adore Harvey Nichols, theyre the quietest of all the dept stores but they have a very loyal following. Id like to see their charts, but I really hope theyre doing well
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!
How interesting! Shame I didnt catch your name in research otherwise I wouldve reached out for sure. Im sure you can tell I tried to contact as many people as I could 😅
@@understitchYT NO worries you still did a great job of it. I find i fascinating (and some times funny) that when reading articles some of the information, regarding matches pre internet, are incorrect or so embelished!
Farfetch next 😂😅
I nearly did it when coupang bought them out, but it was too close to fashion week
@@understitchYT we will wait then 🤭💖
Farfetchs is worse.
I was lucky enough to get some nice pieces for a good price (items that usually don't even go on sale) thanks matches :P
Love that for you! What did you get?
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.
Yeah, it seems dystopic but it’s because of the hierarchy of return. Effectively, they owe the money 1st to the people that put the most money in. So getting rid of any product for whatever they can get back for it helps to pay off those top debtors, even if it means that the smaller brands have lost their stock. Obviously those with contracts like sale or return, or protective clauses just can’t really do much to stop it because it does still count as a sale. It’s awful, and it’s dystopian, but that’s the way that the government is set up, to protect money
It just shouldn’t be allowed
What about RAEY?
Interesting great before the ‘sub prime’ financial collapse/bail out 2007/8 begining of the end……
Look around life and shopping has changed so much everywhere………
Its certainly about to change again too, Im just curious in which way itll go. Will it become like a mega mall or will we find value in curation?
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.
Welcome to the channel 🥰 I dont usually make that kind of content but Ill try to explain things well 😅
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.
Wow, for £7k Id make the necklace for you myself 🤣
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!
That’s so exciting, where have you moved onto now?
I wonder if this type of selling is unsustainable entirely. Farfetch has issues, Peek & Cloppenburg was in administration.
And theyre at such opposite ends of the spectrum too. One very curated, one with endless choice
My experiencee of the shops wasnt great. The buy was safe, you had the brands (eventually) but the more commercial pieces were the ones they bought. The staff were very mixed. I soon gave up on it. I am sure they didnt miss me!!
Ah so you agree with that person that called it boring?
Korean brand Nandastyle someday ❤
I just dont know if its famous enough to get views? Theres a lot of Korean brands I want to do like Ader or Pam An, but Im worried about views. I do have one on Gentle Monster though and thats done decently
I'm 24 from London,,never ,ever heard of them ,,
Oh really? Do you have a favourite shop?
I was shocked that they didn't let me do a free return!
Im pretty sure thats illegal if youre within the 30 days
@@understitchYT oh really? Interesting. It was on the same day that I've received the package.
I can’t even remember the last time I went into a house of Fraser!
I once got a voucher for there for Christmas and I was so confused what on earth I would get there 🤣
@@understitchYT well in the late 90s and early 00s they had a homebrand called Linea (maybe they still do) but back then it was very well designed and they used to make “dupes” of Tom Fords Gucci ranges that were very affordable. I’ve no idea what they’re doing now.
Again I'm too early 😅
NEVERRRR
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💫
Please do 818 next
Thats tequila no? I cover fashion brands
Too many jobs worths under one roof...A unchangeable part of the DNA of the British fashion industry nowadays. Not like in The Olde Skool days.
Really awful for sure, and whats worse is this was really seeming like the way forward to mend the shockingly bad UK textile industry. So for it to just be let go, I dont understand how anyone is supposed to believe in it