WSG Brands, Allbirds' owner, buys Nasty Gal from Debenhams Group for $16 million

WSG Brands has acquired Nasty Gal from Debenhams Group, the U.K. apparel company formerly known as Boohoo, for $16 million. The deal was announced in a press release on Tuesday and hands the fast-fashion label a third owner in under a decade. Debenhams called the sale part of a shift to a marketplace-led, capital-lite model.

Nasty Gal generated £12 million in gross merchandise value last year, roughly $16 million at press-time exchange rates, and just £400,000 in adjusted EBITDA. Debenhams described the brand's results as not material to the wider group, a striking admission from a company that paid $20 million for it in 2017.

That earlier deal closed the loop on a bankruptcy sale. Boohoo, as Debenhams was then known, was the sole bidder at the auction that followed Nasty Gal's 2016 bankruptcy filing. It has now sold the brand on for $4 million less than it originally paid, nine years apart.

Who is buying it

WSG Brands acquired Allbirds earlier this year in partnership with Aerosoles owner American Exchange Group, and bought streetwear label Von Dutch two years ago. Allbirds makes sustainable footwear and apparel from natural materials such as merino wool and eucalyptus tree fibers, a brand built on a very different pitch to Nasty Gal's.

WSG founder and chief executive Jack Cheika framed the purchase around brand recognition rather than recent trading. He said Nasty Gal retains "an incredibly strong identity and a level of cultural recognition that very few brands achieve," language that leans on heritage over the disclosed EBITDA figure.

Cheika added that WSG sees "a tremendous opportunity to build upon that foundation, introduce the brand to a new generation of consumers and expand Nasty Gal into a global lifestyle brand while staying true to the attitude and individuality that have always defined it."

This is not WSG's first fashion turnaround bet.

What happens to the brand next

WSG's stated plan is to expand Nasty Gal's assortment into denim, footwear and bags, jewelry, activewear, swimwear, sleepwear, beauty and travel, largely through licensing deals rather than direct manufacturing. The company also intends to grow the brand's global footprint, distribution and strategic partnerships.

Nasty Gal currently sells through Nordstrom, Macy's, Amazon and Boohoo itself, alongside its own site. That retail spread is set to widen under WSG's ownership, though the company has not named specific retailers or territories it plans to add.

The brand's origin is unusually specific for a company now valued in the tens of millions. Sophia Amoruso founded Nasty Gal in 2006 as an eBay seller of an eclectic mix of vintage apparel finds, before opening a physical store in 2014.

Amoruso began as an eBay seller of an eclectic collection of apparel finds and shoplifted garments. The gap between an eBay side business and a nine-figure retail operation is part of what Cheika is betting still carries value with shoppers.

What the numbers say about the deal

The arithmetic is unusual for a fashion acquisition. WSG is paying $16 million for a brand that produced £400,000 in adjusted EBITDA last year, a multiple that only makes sense if Cheika's bet on licensing income and category expansion pays off quickly.

Debenhams' own framing supports that reading. Calling the brand's results not material to the group signals Nasty Gal had become a peripheral asset inside a business now focused on marketplace operations rather than owning multiple retail brands outright.

We covered the sale itself when Debenhams Group agreed to sell Nasty Gal to White Space Group for the same $16 million figure, marking the moment the brand changed hands for the second time since its bankruptcy.

That earlier reporting established the price and the seller. This deal confirms the buyer's identity as WSG Brands and adds the financial detail behind the sale: the gross merchandise value, the EBITDA figure and Debenhams' own account of why it let the brand go.

No closing date, financing terms or executive appointments at Nasty Gal have been disclosed beyond the press release naming Cheika. WSG Brands has not said when the licensing expansion into new categories is expected to begin or which partners it is in talks with.

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