The sour taste left by disappointing retail IPOs of the past and jitters about how retail conditions will shape up this year mean there’s a lot riding on how New Look’s much-anticipated IPO fares.

Fast fashion group New Look took the plunge on Monday when it pressed the button on a much-anticipated IPO. It will be the first retailer to come to market since Sports Direct in 2007.

That’s cause for celebration in retail more widely, following 18 hardscrabble months of tough trading. But the sour taste left by the Sports Direct experience and other disappointing IPOs, along with continued jitters about how retail conditions will shape up this year, mean there’s a lot riding on how New Look fares.

The fact that New Look is floating as much to enable

it to cut its debt as to grow is likely to give potential investors pause for thought. The retailer has certainly performed well under private ownership, increasing sales and market share. Will it continue on a similar trajectory when public? Some in the City can’t help wondering whether it is close to maturity in the UK.

International expansion has long been part of the New Look business story and it has established a presence in continental Europe and emerging markets such as the Middle East and Russia. The sceptic might still ask, however, whether the scale and pace of overseas growth - and the relatively recent debuts in markets such as Russia - point to the next Inditex.

But there is much in New Look’s favour - not least its sustained growth as others faltered, indicating a business with legs. There was investment while in private hands and it has a flexible business model and strong brand.

Additionally, the retailer has a well-established management team and they will remain in place. Big-hitting new non-execs also show New Look is taking the obligations of public company status seriously. Pets at Home opted for a sale rather than an IPO. New Look’s decision to leap the other way is a welcome sign that retailers will get a hearing from public investors.

Assuming a successful flotation, it will be up to New Look’s management to deliver the rewards promised and help lay to rest suspicion that has dogged potential retail IPOs following fiascos such as Sports Direct.