Style guru Bill Currie is hot for online fashion retailer Sosandar

Online fashion retailer Sosandar has received a vote of confidence after veteran rag trade investor Bill Currie backed the company.

Currie, 61, is a former star City analyst who made a name for himself as an early financier of online retailers including Asos, Boohoo and THG.

He has built up a stake in Sosandar over the past year and recently participated in a fundraiser.

Currie and his family-owned investment company now own a 3.5 per cent stake – worth around £2 million – in the £58 million company.

“We’ve known the company for a few years,” Currie said. “But we started buying on a much larger scale in the last year once we could see the path to profitability.

“I think what they do right is rule number one of retail, which is know your customer.”

Sosandar was founded in 2016 by Ali Hall and Julie Lavington, who spent ten years at Look magazine. They founded the company after hearing ordinary women say they couldn’t find chic and feminine clothes. The couple mentioned it on AIM in 2017.

Although sales fell during the pandemic, the company has now posted profits for the past five quarters. Sales increased by 30 percent in the three months to December.

It has forged online partnerships with Next, John Lewis and Marks & Spencer, and thanks to a deal with Sainsbury’s, its clothes will hit stores for the first time this year.

The company wanted to raise at least £4 million through the fundraiser, but huge demand meant it raised £5.4 million.