Nasty Gal Confirms It’ll Live Another Day, Thanks to Boohoo

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Nasty Gal is almost at the end of the long and winding road it started down last November when it filed for bankruptcy. After cancelling a planned bankruptcy auction yesterday after no additional bidders emerged, today the e-commerce company confirms its still-not-official-official acquisition by Boohoo, Yahoo Style reports.

Which means that Nasty Gal will live to see another day. Yeah, the company that was once valued at $200 million lost a zero — it’s selling to Boohoo for a mere $20 million — but it’s at least not going quietly into the night. The British retailer’s bid includes Nasty Gal’s intellectual property and customer data (although not its stores), which means that the brand itself will likely live on.

"I congratulate boohoo.com on their anticipated successful acquisition and am confident that Nasty Gal's strong legacy will complement their business,” Nasty Gal CEO Sheree Waterson said in a statement.

Boohoo is betting that Nasty Gal still has enough name recognition to help it make inroads into the US, where its fast fashion business isn’t nearly as big. Boohoo has grown considerably since its founding in 2006, having added menswear and kid’s clothing and adds up to 100 — ONE HUNDRED!! — pieces every day.

So far, Boohoo has experimented with New York City pop-up shops, a festival-themed pop-up in Los Angeles, selling through ASOS, and a campaign with the most straightforward name ever: “We Are USA.” (It starred Jordyn Woods and Bella Thorne.)

But Boohoo is still struggling to break through in a big way and compete with the Zaras, H&Ms, and Forever 21s. Acquiring Nasty Gal is its latest attempt to make it in the US, where claims to have “incredible” year-on-year growth. Can the Nasty Gal brand, which has lost $180 million in value and its cool-girl CEO Sophia Amoruso, get shoppers back?

The sale to Boohoo is expected to be finalized by a California bankruptcy court tomorrow, February 8th.