When Vogue Business broke the news on Wednesday morning that beloved British luxury retailer Matches and its own brand Raey will be relaunched in 2026 under new ownership, responses quickly flooded in on social media.
The majority were positive: “So excited to see what it’ll be like”; “Can’t wait for this”; “The best end to 2025”. But among the congratulations — and string of rocket, flame and heart emojis — some commentators pointed out that the Matches collapse left a long trail in its wake, and cautioned against sweeping its history under the carpet.
Frasers Group has sold the intellectual property for Matches and Raey to Joe Wilkinson and Mario Maher, founders of LVMH‑backed shopping app Mile, which evolved from their mystery box concept Heat. The duo have formed a new luxury group called Hulcan, which now comprises Mile, Matches and Raey. Hulcan has secured $150 million in strategic capital from a group that includes Frasers Group, Francesco Ragazzi (founder and creative entrepreneur behind Palm Angels and Reservation) and PagsGroup (the family investment office of Stephen Pagliuca), alongside existing Mile investors such as Antler, LVMH Luxury Ventures, the Hermès family, Stefano Rosso and Carmen Busquets.
Wilkinson and Maher said they plan to preserve Matches’s heritage of “curation, exclusivity and strong product” while introducing a “new angle” aimed at reshaping how consumers discover and shop luxury online.
The relaunch will need to address the structural challenges that contributed to Matches’s collapse — from rebuilding trust with luxury brands and suppliers, to rethinking customer experience in an era where shoppers demand discovery, exclusivity and personalization. While details of the new business have yet to be revealed, priorities will likely include re‑establishing brand partnerships and finding ways to resonate with today’s luxury shoppers without diluting the prestige Matches once enjoyed.
Here’s our to-do list.
Repair relationships
When the Matches website was finally shuttered in the summer of 2024, about four months after it called in administrators, the company owed approximately £50 million to brands and suppliers. For now, it is unclear how many of Matches’s former stocklist will be approached for the relaunch. Either way, after such a high-profile collapse, Wilkinson and Maher will have their work cut out to convince brands that their vision of Matches is viable.
At the time of the announcement, the new owners said they have acquired only the brand’s IP and assets, and are not liable for outstanding debts, adding that they will “navigate in real time” how to rebuild relationships with brands still owed money following the business’s collapse.
The duo believe they have a “clean run” to do what they think should be done with the platform going forward, and are confident brands will come on board. “It will be interesting to see how they negotiate buying terms from brands and designers,” says Diana Kakkar, founder of luxury manufacturer Maes London. “They may also need to build trust and confidence in how they plan to operate, supporting those designers.”
When asked by my colleague Lucy Maguire if they planned to use Raey’s former suppliers, Maher said “nothing is off the table”. Kakkar says rekindling a supply chain post-collapse is doable, if handled the right way. “Assuming we are not pivoting too far away from their original product architecture, re-igniting the conversation with their existing supply chain is a no-brainer as they know the product and quality really well,” she explains. “There may be some damage control — like debts in arrears that need clearing — to include [some of the suppliers] back in the ecosystem, but if handled with sensitivity and good ethics they could be up and running with a robust supply chain in no time.”
She notes that, depending on the price point and brand positioning, the new owners might reassess whether to make Raey in the UK. However, establishing new relationships “can take time and be costly”.
With the impact still fresh in suppliers’ memories, restarting relationships could take some convincing. “The Matches situation really hit us hard,” says Roy Powley, who runs Leicestershire-based jersey fabric and clothing manufacturer Riverside Design Textiles, with his wife Helen. Raey was one of their biggest clients; the closure left them thousands of pounds out of pocket. “The experience has left us quite cynical of larger organizations. We have been approached by another well-known label for our product and have had to say we won’t take the order without a deposit, and a strict 30 days balance of invoice. We hope they’ll understand.”
Powley says he would be “very reluctant” to deal with Matches again if it was still connected to past ownership, noting that Frasers Group is still involved as a financial backer. “And if we did, it would be on a proforma basis,” he adds. (This would require payment from Matches upfront based on details provided in a proforma invoice, before goods were manufactured or dispatched.) He doesn’t rule it out entirely though, pointing out that Riverside is a small family business that cannot afford to turn down potential customers if the risk can be managed.
“Given the public nature of the collapse, [the new owners] will need a clear narrative for suppliers, partners, and customers about what’s changed and how they’re moving forward responsibly,” says Kakkar.
“We know there are going to be questions,” Wilkinson told Vogue Business when the acquisition was announced. “We know there are going to be all sorts that come [our] way. But this is a new business, in a way. What’s in the past is in the past. It’s something we’re going to navigate because we think it’s worth it.”
Rebuild around today’s luxury consumer
The luxury shopping landscape has shifted dramatically over the past two years. In 2024, the market contracted for the first time (excluding Covid) since the great recession, and an estimated 50 million consumers were priced out of the luxury bracket, according to a study by management consultancy Bain in partnership with Italian luxury goods association Altagamma. Then, the outlook for 2025 was clouded by tariffs. The market is expected to return to growth in 2026, up between 3% and 5%, per Bain, but many of the issues that drove the slump are still prevalent.
Vogue Business breaks down tariffs by country and what the rates mean for fashion.
The luxury consumer has become more value conscious and discerning, reflecting economic headwinds and rising prices. Shoppers are increasingly prioritising quality, craftsmanship and authentic brand storytelling over purely aspirational purchases, while younger consumers are driving growth in smaller, accessible categories like beauty and eyewear. Resale and alternative channels are gaining traction as buyers seek sustainability, uniqueness and better value. At the same time, luxury consumers expect meaningful experiences, curated content and community engagement.
“I would be asking what’s on our customers’ minds right now? How do they see themselves and how can Matches align with that? I think the mistake Topshop made is they relaunched as was, and their customers have moved on,” says Dahlia Stroud, retail expert and founder of SBWD Consultancy and the Stressed But Well Dressed podcast.
“We’ve seen a shun away from ‘obvious’ luxury and brands to quieter more discreet luxury goods,” Stroud continues. “We have also seen a lot of uber luxury brands price themselves out of the market, paving the way for brands like Polène to create a space for themselves. What are the brands today’s Matches customer will want and where are they spending right now? How can Matches reconnect with customers who moved on and how can they position themselves to target the customers who can now afford them but didn’t know them before?”
Clarify what Matches stands for
Consumer behavior expert Kate Hardcastle agrees that any Matches relaunch must start with a clear-eyed view of today’s consumer, who is “digitally often overwhelmed, oversaturated and exhausted”. Endless promotions, false urgency and lookalike retail strategies have made luxury ecommerce “incredibly loud and, paradoxically, very similar”, she says, a dynamic that “creates distress, not desire”.
Hardcastle notes that Matches once stood apart by removing effort for the consumer. “At its best, it was edited. It gave consumers confidence that someone knowledgeable was doing the hard work,” she says. “You didn’t feel hunted by a deal; you felt guided by taste.” That role is arguably more valuable now, as consumers have become “more forensic than they used to be”, whether they are cash-constrained or still spending confidently. (This was especially evident during Black Friday and Cyber Monday, when AI-led deal searching rose dramatically, according to data from Adobe for Business.)
As a result, the central question for Matches is no longer how to win customers back, but, as Hardcastle puts it, “why should they stay this time?” The answer, she argues, “can’t be more noise, more product, or more generic incentives”. Instead, loyalty today is about “exceptional clarity: what do you stand for, what are you uniquely good at, and what effort do you remove from the consumer’s life?” In an online-first luxury market, trust is built through “consistency, but not sameness” — reliability in service, tone and delivery, paired with confident differentiation in judgement and curation.
Translate the founders’ playbook into luxury — carefully
Wilkinson and Maher met in London in 2019 and launched fashion mystery box platform Heat shortly after. Heat partnered with luxury labels such as Off-White and Balenciaga to monetize unsold inventory via drops of surprise merchandise in mystery boxes. Then, in 2024, the duo transformed Heat into Mile, a members-only shopping app that offers discounted and exclusive products from 150 luxury brands, including Brunello Cucinelli, Marni and Comme des Garçons.
Wilkinson said Matches would not be relaunched as an off-price retailer, but rather “the polar opposite”. But it will be different to the past Matches model. “We always like to do something different, as we did with Heat in the past, as we did with Mile. This will be different too. It’s not what people expect,” he said.
In today’s luxury retail landscape, both Mile and Heat offer lessons that their founders could selectively borrow from to reinvigorate Matches, without fully adopting either model. From Mile, the idea of curated exclusivity is particularly compelling. Limited drops, archival pieces or designer collaborations resonate with current luxury consumer trends, where scarcity, storytelling and experience are valued over sheer volume. Matches could focus on highly curated selections and tiered benefits — such as early access to capsule collections or bespoke services — to elevate its brand positioning and differentiate itself. Likewise, Mile’s emphasis on community and engagement beyond transactions suggests ways Matches could deepen customer relationships through experiential elements like editorial-driven capsules, styling consultations or invitation-only events.
Overly restrictive membership or excessive surprise elements risk alienating Matches’s core luxury customers, who expect a curated, luxury experience. But executed well, Mile- or Heat-inspired strategies could help to reposition Matches as a tastemaker.
“Multi-brand retailers need to go back to their role of discovery and talent scouting of new brands relevant to consumers, rather than having delusional ambitions of grandeur and domination à la Farfetch,” says Bernstein luxury goods analyst Luca Solca. “This means they need to concentrate on becoming profitable niche players, with the implication that their customer acquisition costs have to be narrowly targeted. I think Mytheresa is a best-in-class example of this.”
Hardcastle stresses that trust and joy are now inseparable. “When a consumer trusts a retailer, the experience becomes lighter,” she says. “They stop double-checking. They stop cross-referencing 10 tabs. They allow themselves to enjoy the purchase again.” A successful relaunch, Hardastle argues, won’t chase every customer, but will be “clear about who it’s for, what it offers that others don’t, and how it respects both their money and their attention”. That, she concludes, is what trust looks like now: “Not repair, not reassurance — but confidence, quietly rebuilt and felt in the experience.”
