Frasers Group Acquires Fast Fashion Website I Saw It First After Rescuing Missguided

Mike Ashley’s retail emporium Frasers has inked a deal to acquire fast fashion firm I Saw It First.

In an announcement on the London Stock Exchange on Thursday morning, the Sports Direct owner confirmed The Telegraph’s reports that it was to poach the website.

I Saw It First was created by Jalal Kamani in 2017, after he helped his brother Mahmud establish Boohoo.

Frasers, which is now under the leadership of Ashley’s son-in-law Michael Murray, said it “looks forward to integrating” the brand into its portfolio, especially with recent takeover achievement Missguided.

Frasers acquired beleaguered fashion platform Missguided earlier this year, despite rumours of takeover interest from rival Boohoo.

I Saw It First presently boasts more than 5m consumers, the company said.

The retailer will also “benefit from the strength and scale of Frasers Group’s platform,” the statement said. 

In recent weeks, Frasers Group has snared a 29 per cent stake in Australia’s fashion platform MySale and boosted its stake in luxury German fashion brand Hugo Boss.

The group snapped up some assets from Studio Retail Group in February 2022, as well as pursuing a takeover campaign for the collapsed Debenhams department store chain in 2020.

Frasers are “certainly trying to position themselves as leaders in the retail industry, gathering a huge portfolio of brands,” Wizz Selvey, retail strategy guru and former head of buying at Selfridges, told CityA.M. last month.