Follow us

Menu
PARTNER WITH USFREE NEWSLETTER
VISIT TheIndustry.beauty

Warehouse and Oasis move into menswear with The Idle Man takeover

Lauretta Roberts
10 September 2019

Women’s fashion chains Oasis and Warehouse have ventured into menswear for the first time, snapping up Shoreditch-based e-commerce start-up The Idle Man.

Launched by a former ASOS menswear buyer Oliver Tezcan, The Idle Man was opened in 2014, selling big name fashion brands but it also has its own in-house design team. It aimed to bridge the gap between fast-fashion brands, such as ASOS, and the more premium menswear offer from the likes of Mr Porter.

Hash Ladha, Oasis and Warehouse group chief executive, said of the move: “We can bring scale to The Idle Man’s proposition as well as infrastructure support, and the brand allows us to tap into the growing demand for fashionable menswear through a credible and well-established brand.”

Analysts and retail observers had been fearful that Kaupthing-owned Oasis and Warehouse could be struggling, after former stablemate Coast collapsed last year and was sold to another then Kaupthing-owned business Karen Millen. However Karen Millen and Coast were then both acquired by online group Boohoo in a pre-pack administration deal in August.

But Oasis and Warehouse have continued to grow and bosses are hoping this latest push will help improve its future.

Oliver Tezcan The Idle Man

Oliver Tezcan

Oliver Tezcan, managing director and founder of the Idle Man, said: “This is the start of a very exciting journey for us, we will now have a platform from which we can scale up, attract new customers and develop our own brand wholesale proposition and international business.”

The company employed around 22 staff and had assets of £820,000 on 31 August 2018, according to latest accounts filed at Companies House.

The amount paid by Oasis and Warehouse Oasis was not revealed.

Additional reporting: PA.

Free NewsletterVISIT TheIndustry.beauty
cross