Fashion giant ASOS has struck a deal with Arcadia, putting thousands of jobs at risk.
ASOS struck a £295 million deal with Arcadia to buy four of its main brands: Topshop; Topman; Miss Selfridge; and HIIT. ASOS is paying an additional £30 million on top of this trade deal to buy Arcadia stock ready for the new fashion year.
Deliotte administrators are expecting the deal to be completed by 4 February, much to the unease of its employers and landlords.
ASOS is a renowned online retailer which has taken the world by storm in recent months as the pandemic has seen high street shops closing and an increasing shift to online buying, marking an entrance into a new digital age.
In November 2020, Arcadia, run by Sir Philip Green, fell into administration putting thousands of jobs at risk.
Within the past few weeks 50 of its stores have already closed, with a further 20 due to follow the same fate in the coming weeks.
One Topshop employee said:
“I woke up this morning, and just went on my phone, and it was the first thing that I saw on Twitter […] That was the first word we had, we didn’t hear anything properly from the Arcadia side of things for a good hour and a bit afterwards.”
“There’s lots of people who’ve been there for many years, and obviously, when [ASOS] is just taking the digital side of it, there’s so many people that work in the stores. It’s really sad for the company.”
The transition of Arcadia groups online has, and will continue to have, a detrimental impact upon the high street fashion market as well the thousands of employees who are now forced to find work elsewhere. ASOS chief executive Nick Beighton said:
“We have been central to driving their recent growth online and, under our ownership, we will develop them further, using our design, marketing, technology and logistics expertise, and working closely with key strategic retail partners in the UK and around the world.”
Since the start of the pandemic in March 2020, there has definitely been a noticeable shift in the way we shop, with online retailers once traditionally exclusive to Gen-Z now being enjoyed by all.
Online fashion advertisements have been branded to attract and appeal to younger audiences unlike their high street competitors. Their bright and abstract tones succeed in attracting the buyer’s attention more so than the neutral colours we tend to see featured in physical stores.
Bodycon and tailored clothing choices are also experiencing a rise in popularity online as viewers are able to visualise advertised clothes on a model rather than a clothes rack.
Topshop and Miss Selfridge have been struggling for a number of years and have experienced a decline in popularity as Arcadia designers have failed to reimagine and reinvent clothing brands to be suitable for our new digital age.
Despite their popularity in earlier years, Arcadia’s failure to remain relevant and sustainable has resulted in business shifting elsewhere to online-only retailers such as Boohoo and Missguided.
Whilst this trade deal certainly marks a sad moment in the history of Arcadia, there is renewed hope for these brands as we move to a more digitised era.
Madeleine Raine
Featured image courtesy of Becca McHaffie via Unsplash. Image license is available here. This image has in no way been altered.