MatchesFashion has been closed

In an interesting turn of events, Frasers Group filed Matchesfashion into receivership just two months after its acquisition. A titan in the world of luxury retail, before the support of the Matchesfashion retail group it was facing a substantial £52 million crisis. Frasers Group had completed its acquisition of the company (renamed Matches in 2022) in order to position itself more in the luxury fashion sector but, subsequently, brands working with the platform began to break partnerships, reporting repeated missed payments from Matches. 

In a statement released to the press, Frasers Group stated that the difficulties for the turnaround of the Matches company were also too great for the group. Although they had tried to stabilise the company's fortunes, they explained, «too many changes would be required to restructure the company, and the ongoing financing requirements would far exceed the type of financing the Group considered sustainable». The directors of Matches have thus decided to put the company into liquidation, a move that abruptly ends the life of a company that, in its time, observed an enviable climb to success. Launched in the 1980s in London as a boutique, Marches was known throughout the capital as a cultural space in which to discover the offerings of emerging and luxury brands, becoming one of the first online retail platforms in 2007, reaching more than 500 brands. In 2012, founders Tom and Ruth Chapman sold a £20m stake to venture capital funds, before leaving the business to private equity firm Apax for £400m in 2017. Matches was acquired by Frasers Group for £52m in 2023.