Select Fashion built 105 stores over 40 years — and closed every one in 2025

Select Fashion was founded in the early 1980s by Turkish entrepreneur Cafer Mahiroglu, growing from a single London store into a UK value fashion chain with 105 shops at its peak. It sold affordable women's clothing targeting budget-conscious shoppers, competing with brands like Primark and Peacocks on price rather than fashion-forwardness.

The brand had already collapsed once: in 2019, it entered administration and was rescued by Genus UK, which restructured the debt and kept the stores open. But the underlying business did not change. Select operated on thin margins in a segment where Shein and other ultra-fast online retailers were vacuuming up foot traffic. A 2024 Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) attempted to reduce rent costs through Moorfields Advisory, but the savings were insufficient. The most recently filed accounts showed a pre-tax loss of £1.1 million.

In early 2025, Select began shutting stores at speed. On 14 March 2025, 35 stores were closed. On 28 March 2025, Select confirmed its final trading day. The company entered a Creditors' Voluntary Liquidation (CVL) in April 2025, with Michael Solomons and Andrew Pear of Moorfields appointed as joint liquidators. Staff were told by email that salary payments would be delayed. Approximately 48 of the former Select stores were acquired by Essence Fashion, but the Select brand itself was liquidated.