Online fashion retailer In The Style seems to have been acquired out of administration.
The digital womenswear fashion brand, based in Salford, entered administration on 10th March after celebrities had taken to Instagram to say they had not been paid in months.
Marco Piacquadio, owner, director and head of recovery at FTS posted on LinkedIn: “Pleased to have saved over three hundred jobs last week completing sales out of administration on both In The Style Fashion Limited and Rectella Limited T/a Julian Charles.
“Well done to all involved including my own team, who as always have gone above and beyond to work these complex transactions across long hours in accelerated timeframes.
“Continuity achieved for employees, respective brands, supply chain, customers and over 70 sites and concessions rescued across the two transactions.”
In The Style floated in London in 2019 with a market value of £105m but by March 2023 its market cap had dropped below £1m and it was saved from administration when its only operating subsidiary In The Style Fashion Limited was acquired by family office Baaj Capital LLP for £1.2m.
Earlier in 2023 Adam Frisby (pictured, main image, with models), who founded the firm from his bedroom in 2013, won a High Court battle against businessman Paul Clements. The latter claimed he had come up with the concept and name for the company.
A pre-pack insolvency potentially involving Baaj Capital was thought to be one possible outcome. The administrators have not issued any formal statement confirming the details of the rescue.
In The Style uses influencers to promote its products. Stacey Solomon and Gemma Atkinson are among those who have been on its books.
BusinessCloud has contacted FTS Recovery, In The Style and Baaj Capital requesting details.
Late last month, Frisby responded to claims made by EastEnders actress Jacqueline Jossa that she has not been paid in months.
Jossa signed a promotional deal worth an estimated £1m in 2020. She was said to be consulting her lawyers over an unpaid ‘five-figure sum’.
The former I’m A Celebrity: Get Me Out Of Here! winner told her 4m Instagram followers at the end of February that she “can’t get a response from anyone at the company”.
“My name and image is still being used all over the website, helping the brand to sell stock, yet I haven’t been paid for months,” she wrote.
“I see them signing up new faces and continuing to launch new collections and I feel it’s my responsibility to let the new girls know that their contract is unlikely to be honoured and they are unlikely to be paid.”
Frisby, who left his role as CEO of the online fashion retailer in September 2024, took to Instagram Stories to support Jossa and employees at the company – including two pregnant women, and several mothers – who he said were being sacked without pay.
Jossa was supported by former Geordie Shore regular Charlotte Crosby, who also took to Instagram Stores to vent her anger.
Crosby wrote: “That business was something special for 10 years, built on incredible values, and it’s heartbreaking to watch all of this unfold.
“But it’s about time the truth is exposed for everyone to see. People shouldn’t be allowed to get away with this!”
She also spoke about seeing ‘firsthand the mental toll leaving In The Style took’ on Frisby and his partner Jamie Corbett.