Matches reportedly cuts 273 jobs following Teneo appointment

Luxury e-tailer Matches – formerly Matchesfashion – is understood to have made 273 of its employees redundant after it appointed restructuring firm Teneo to oversee its administration process.

Roles that are said to have been impacted by the move include those in buying, communications, analytics and marketing, according to Drapers, which initially reported the news.

The media outlet said that the decision came one day after Teneo had been appointed as administrator, a move that was carried out by Matches’ new owner Frasers Group.

In a statement to Drapers, Benji Dymant, the joint administrator at Teneo, said: “Like many luxury fashion retailers, Matchesfashion has experienced a sharp decline in demand over the last year, as a result of well-publicised pressures on discretionary spend, stemming from the high inflation and high interest macro environment.

"Since Frasers’ acquisition of Matchesfashion in December 2023 and an injection of additional funding, trading has continued to deteriorate, increasing the funding requirements of the business. This ultimately has resulted in the directors taking the difficult decision to place the company into administration."

In addition to this, Frasers noted that Matches had “consistently missed its business targets and (...) continued to make material losses”.

Frasers had acquired Matches in a 52 million pound deal from Apax Partners, which had previously paid a reported 800 million pounds for the business just six years earlier.