Online fashion retailer In The Style is understood to be considering a stock market flotation valuing it at £100m just six years after founder Adam Frisby launched it from his Manchester bedroom.

The valuation would mean the fashion etailer has doubled its worth in three years. In 2017, Livingbridge Venture Capital took a £5m stake in the etailer in a deal that valued it at £50m.

While In The Style recorded a pre-tax loss of £1.5m in its latest results for the year ending March 2019, sales in the first half of this year have doubled, bringing it into profit.

Like other online fashion powerhouses Boohoo, Missguided and Asos, In The Style has made gains during the pandemic, but what else has contributed to its success?

Celebrity collaborations

Adam Frisby

Adam Frisby has bolstered his leadership team with retail experts

When Frisby launched the business in 2014, with £1,000 and six dresses from a wholesaler, it had the potential to operate in the same vein as its fast-fashion counterparts.

However, recognising that young social media users had a tendency to copy what their favourite stars wore, he spotted a gap in the market to create a brand based on collaborations with the celebrities themselves.

Starting with The Only Way is Essex star Lauren Pope, In The Style has launched collaborations with a host of celebrities over the years, using their fame to drive sales.

That has been particularly successful when Frisby won contracts with stars from reality TV programmes – Love Island winner Dani Dyer and I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here winner Jacqueline Jossa both saw peaks in their fame after finishing their respective shows – meaning In The Style could capitalise on the buzz. 

While rivals have also built up their social media credentials by creating collections with celebrities, they have mostly been for a limited time with a limited number of products.

In The Style’s collaborators have said they get more control over designs than would be the case with other fashion names.

Frisby also focuses on creating long-lasting relationships with stars and influencers who return to create new collections over and over. 

Tech-focused team

Frisby has spent the last few years bolstering his leadership team with retail experts.

His first two appointments were poached from competitor Missguided – former chief financial officer Paul Masters and global marketing director Dane Stanley both jumped ship in 2017, taking on the roles of chief operating officer and chief marketing officer respectively. 

This show of faith in the brand’s potential was also seen in In The Style’s other appointments. It hired Sofology chief technology officer Jonathan Cleaver and experienced merchandiser James Malysz who had previously worked for All Saints and River Island.

Female empowerment

In The Style has a well-published ethos of empowering its female customers to feel body confident.

It was one of the first UK fashion labels to stop airbrushing its models in 2019, second only to Asos, launching its #ITSjustgotreal campaign.

“We want to empower our customers to be brave, embrace body positivity and most of all, love themselves for who they are,” Frisby says on the brand’s website.

“Our message is clear: be who you are, not what you think you should be. Collaborations are in our brand DNA, offering a unique approach to product that you won’t find anywhere else.

“Our collections are designed for everyone, regardless of shape or size, inclusivity is at the core of everything we do. Whether she’s looking for the latest trends or her go-to fashion staples, there’s something for every kind of woman. We keep prices affordable, products reactive to demand, user experience seamless and we pride ourselves on quality of service.”

With sustainability becoming more important in recent years, In The Style has also made strides to ”love the planet” as well as “love yourself”.

Its key promotion is for customers to recycle their old clothes using the Regain app in return for vouchers. It has also pledged to work with the Marine Conservation Society to reduce waste and plastic pollution.

The power of social

While not unique to In The Style, the business has used social media very effectively to elevate itself in a short period of time.

Frisby is active on Instagram and often posts pictures with collaborators or comments on their pages – cementing the idea that the business is built on friendships as well as financial contracts.

The brand has 2.7 million followers on Instagram – around a third of what both Missguided and Boohoo have but admirable given its age – and with 1 million active customers, engagement rates are high.

In The Style also launched its TikTok channel using videos of its stars and has racked up more followers than Missguided on the platform after posting just 41 videos so far.

While small compared to some of its competitors, Frisby has carved a niche in the market unique to In The Style, capitalising on social buzz and using collaborations with celebrities to create trends rather than copying them.