Missguided online fashion retailer has called administrators after failing to get a rescue offer.
Teneo administrators were appointed on Monday after the company received a liquidation request from clothing suppliers to whom they owe millions of pounds.
Gavin Maher of Teneo said: “As we continue to see, the retail business environment in the UK remains extremely difficult.
“The joint ventures will now seek to conclude a sale of the business and assets, for which it continues to have a high level of interest from various strategic buyers.”
About 140 jobs are believed to be at risk, and The Guardian quoted a source as saying more than 80 people had been fired immediately.
Teneo said Missguided will continue to negotiate while looking for a buyer for the business.
Boohoo, a larger online fashion retailer, had been in talks to buy Missguided in a prepack administration deal.
JD Sports and ASOS are also believed to have shown some interest, but no agreement was reached.
Missguided was founded by Nitin Pass in 2009 when she was just 26 years old and became one of the largest online fashion stores in the UK, competing with ASOS and Boohoo.
However, his journey was not without serious difficulties, including in 2017 when one of his Leicester-based suppliers was charged after a covert investigation into paying workers less than the minimum wage.
In 2019, he faced scrutiny for the sale of a £ 1 bikini, but responded by saying that the garment “had cost us more to produce than £ 1 and we are absorbing the costs to be able to offer it to an amazing price as a gift to our customers “.
Missguided opened a handful of physical stores, including one in London’s Westfield Mall, but decided to close them after deciding that their operating losses were too great to justify.