Karen Millen and Coast — UK brands sold to Boohoo, stores closed, 1,100 jobs lost

Karen Millen was a British womenswear brand founded in 1981 by Karen Millen and Kevin Stanford, known for tailored, premium clothing targeting professional women. Coast, acquired by the same ownership in 2004, specialised in occasionwear and formal dresses. Both brands were owned by Icelandic bank Kaupthing following the 2008 financial crisis, which had taken control after the bank's collapse. By 2019, the brands operated 32 standalone stores and 177 concessions across the UK, primarily in department stores like Debenhams and House of Fraser.

On 6 August 2019, both brands entered administration after years of declining sales and mounting losses in a brutal retail environment. The physical store model had become unsustainable as footfall fell and rents rose. Boohoo Group acquired the brands' online operations and intellectual property for £18.2 million in a pre-pack administration deal. The deal excluded all physical stores, which were closed immediately. Sixty-two jobs were cut on the spot, and approximately 1,100 employees were put at risk of redundancy.

The acquisition was part of Boohoo's strategy of buying distressed heritage brands and converting them to online-only operations, following similar deals for PrettyLittleThing and Nasty Gal. Karen Millen and Coast continued as digital-only brands under Boohoo's ownership, with no physical retail presence. The case exemplified the shift from bricks-and-mortar to online retail and the growing trend of pure-play online retailers acquiring legacy brands for their customer databases and brand equity.