Matchesfashion.com unveils new studio plans following 600 million pound sale talks

Management

London - Matchesfashion.com is gearing up for a bright future, as the British fashion retailer is reportedly heading towards a 600 million pound sale and set to open a new tech and design hub in east London.

Matchesfashion.com, founded by duo Tom and Ruth Chapman in Wimbledon in 1987, has signed a lease for 22,000 square feet at Here East, in Queen Elizabeth Olympic park. The luxury fashion retailer is set to open a state of the art design, photography and video production studio. The new studio, which will create 150 new jobs over the next four years, will help Matchesfashion.com increase its visual content output as part of its wider digital ambitions.

Matchesfashion.com to open state of the art studio at Here East

Following the opening of the studio, Matchesfashion.com will be able to produce online content for more than 2000 products a week, nearly doubling its current content output online. “Creating the best visual user experience is at the heart of everything we do – we are renowned for the content we produce in house and this move to Here East, and our investment in a new creative space, will help us to achieve our plans to generate even more innovative and engaging content for our brands and our customer,” said Ulric Jerome, CEO, Matchesfashion.com in a statement.

The new hub will function alongside Matchesfashion.com's current head-office, located in the Shard, where approximately 500 employees are based. “The renaissance of fashion in East London has given rise to an emergent fashion cluster and it is driven, in part, by the growth in digital creativity. Here East provides a perfect home for a brand such as Matchesfashion.com to further develop their brand and content platform,” said Gavin Poole, CEO, Here East.

Justine Simons, Deputy Mayor for Culture and Creative Industries, welcomed the new plan, claiming that “London has all the best ingredients as a centre for fashion. It is home to leading fashion colleges, is renowned for growing the next generation of talent, has wonderful established brands and is a world-leading tech hub.” “Without first-class technology including photography and video production, London would not be the international fashion powerhouse it is today,” he added.

Matchesfashion.com reportedly headed for 600 million pound sale

Plans for the new studio comes as the luxury fashion retailer is reportedly headed for a sale. Matchesfashion.com is said to be in discussion with a number of investment firms, including Apax Partners, Permira and KKR for a sale which could value the fashion company at over 600 million pounds, according to Sky News. Bain Capital, another investment firm, is also said to be investigating whether it will make a formal offer for the company or not. The sale, which is being overseen by Catalyst Corporate Finance, may see co-chairman Ruth and Tom Chapman who retain a majority stake in the company, receive more than 300 million pounds.

Although the company declined to comment on news of the sale, the fashion retailer is in a strong position for any potential takeover. Matchesfashion.com, which offers luxury brands such as Chloe, Alexander McQueen and Balenciaga, previously shared its financial results for the first time earlier this year, unveiling a 61 percent year on year growth, driven by record growth in all markets. Even though the fashion retailer operates four stores in London, 95 percent of its revenue is generated via its online store.

Potential sale talks come not long after news emerged that Matchfashion.come had brought on advisers to oversee a potential stock market flotation.

Photo credit: By Philafrenzy (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons