In The Style festive sales up 21.5% as strong growth continues

In The Style, the influencer-driven fashion brand, as reported net sales up 21.5% in the eight weeks to 31 December driven by the strong performance of its director to consumer (DTC) channel, but higher costs have hit its profit margins.

The business, which listed on AIM in March of last year, said net sales in the eight week period reached £11.2 million, representing a 225.9% growth on a two-year basis. Gross order value (a pre-returns metric) increased 41.4% to £15.2m on a strong comparable performance, representing a 178.4% growth on a two-year basis.

In The Style said it had made progress against its operational KPIs with average order value, website visits and conversion rates all improving, while returns rates had also improved versus H1 due to the product mix.

Its strong performance was driven by its DTC business, which was up 34.5% year on year to £9.1m. This channel comprises its website and proprietary app, with app sales up 72.3% year on year and representing 67.1% of total sales for the period. Wholesale accounts, which include deals with Asda, ASOS and Lipsy, were said to have performed in line with expectations.

Looking ahead In The Style, whose business model financially incentivises the influencers with whom it co-creates collections, said it was on course to achieve strong revenue growth for the financial year ended 31 March 2022 (FY22) in the range of £55m to £57m, which is in line with market expectations. 

However global supply challenges mean that it anticipates higher costs and margin erosion and the company now anticipates reporting a FY22 adjusted EBITDA margin in the range of 1% to 2%. The company said it had also increased discounting during the period to clear some ranges ahead of new launches, while some launches scheduled for Q4 will now fall into FY23.

Sam Perkins joined the business from Very Group at the end of last year to take the CEO reins from founder Adam Frisby who has assumed the role of Chief Brand Officer. Commenting on the performance, Perkins said: “The Group has continued its excellent growth to achieve a strong sales performance during the important golden quarter. This outcome was achieved despite the well-documented uncertainties facing both consumers and retailers during the period and is testament to the appeal of the In The Style brand, continued positive momentum across several key customer metrics, and the success of our recent influencer collaborations. 

“I’m very excited to have now joined In The Style. Underpinned by the strength of the Group’s differentiated business model and strong brand as well as the important investments that have been made in ITS’s infrastructure, technology and team, we have so many exciting long-term growth opportunities to go for. We have a strong pipeline of new partnerships and collection launches, and I am looking forward to working closely with our excellent team to achieve our objectives.” 

In a separate announcement also released today, the group announced that CFO & COO Paul Masters has announced he will step down in March 2022, in order to focus on his health. Richard Monaghan, currently director of finance at Victorian Plumbing, will join in mid-March 2022 to succeed Masters.