Mike Welch, the tyre entrepreneur, has relaunched the fashion website Atterley as a platform for independent fashion retailers.
Mr Welch, who sold his Scottish-based online tyre retailer Blackcircles to Michelin for £50million last year, had a small stake in Atterley before it went into administration on January 5. Its biggest backer had been former Tesco chief Sir Terry Leahy, a long-time backer of Mr Welch.
The Welch Group set up Atterley.com Holdings this month to buy the intellectual property assets of Atterley from administrator KPMG. It will reposition the website as a global trading platform for independent retailers to sell their inventory online.
Michael Welch said: “The previous Atterley team did an excellent job of establishing a high quality offer and reputation to a very loyal audience and it was a shame to see it end. We saw the investment opportunity to take the Atterley brand on and back a team to deliver an innovative and exciting new proposition to the same audience.”
Nick Freer, chief marketing officer, said: “The business is being reshaped into a platform for a network of independent fashion retailers to trade with discerning consumers across the world. Significant progress has already been made in appointing partners, with UK, US and Australian retailers among the early recruits.”
He went on: “Our mission is to support the local guys and provide them with the tech tool kit and marketing reach to compete with the big online retailers and the high street. We have a core team in place who have hit the ground running and an executive team is being recruited to lead Atterley’s development in the UK, US and internationally.”
Mr Welch warned last week of a ‘bulge’ in technology company valuations, which was being fuelled by a wall of private equity money.
Atterley was founded in 2011 by Kate Starmer-Smith, who previously worked at Jigsaw and Mulberry, as a platform for niche clothing brands. Two years ago it raised £2m from backers, including Sir Terry and the Artemis funds group, to expand in the UK and overseas and was tipped to be an online retailer success story. Last June the company launched its own brand of Scandinavian-style affordable clothing.
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