The Bite Magazine - Summer 2019 - Issue 25

bite perfume W e all know that the word ‘misguided’ usually means steering someone in the wrong direction or being mischievous in a not-so-nice way but that certainly isn’t the case with girl power super brand Missguid- ed. They are all about empowering females all over the world to be confident in themselves and be who they want to be. “Missguided is a bold, straight talking and forward talking fashion brand inspired by real life that aims to do exactly that,” says the brand. So it is great to know that everything they create is in- formed by their customers along with global influences like social media, street style, and popular culture, by a brand that delivers and encompasses everything it means to be a girl on-the-go in the world today. So who are the superwomen behind this brand? Well, it’s actu- ally a superman by the name of Nitin Passi who started his career in the New York fashion industry before set- ting up on his own in 2009. It was at the height of the 2008 recession that Nitin thought about starting an online business which result- ed in Missguided, a UK fast fashion brand that grew into an $80 million dollar business five years later and expanded into the United States, France, Germany and Sweden. Although he didn’t have much business expe- rience at the time, it was thanks to working with his fa- ther who imported, designed and sold to all the high street chains and department stores in the UK and US that he gained some knowledge. “I was based in New York, I lived there for two years, and got a kind of grounding in the fashion business,” he told Fashionista in 2014, “everything from design, travelling the world with designers, to production, spending a lot of time out in China and selling as well.” Whilst Missguided is completely different from his fa- ther’s business because it is very fast fashion and his fa- ther’s business works three seasons in advance with a product lead time of six months, the experience Nitin gained was worthwhile. As with all start-up businesses, the founder did abso- lutely everything, from getting the website built, all the photos taken and the website banners done, to writing the product descriptions, uploading the products and handling customer care. “In the early days, it was a big learning curve. I didn’t know much about e-commerce so I just had to jump into the deep end and just test everything.” Starting with wholesale garments in the beginning, Missguided now design over 95 percent of what’s on the site in-house. Extending their product line to include beauty and fra- grances, ‘babe power’ is at the heart of the brand. Miss- guided believes in championing young talent and real women, thus inspiring a new generation of unstoppable females. “Our babes are the dreamers, believers, and doers who represent our customers, brand advocates CHILL B MISSGUIDED Cristina Lloyd looks at Chill Babe, the new eau de parfum from online and retail brand Missguided.