Bye-Bye #Girlboss? Sophia Amoruso’s Fashion Brand Nasty Gal Files For Bankruptcy

The online clothing retailer Nasty Gal has filed for bankruptcy and plans to restructure, after months of rumours of financial struggles at the company.

Nasty Gal’s founder Sophia Amoruso has built her brand around her self-made business success, even publishing her own business advice book/memoir GIRLBOSS in 2014. According to Fortune, she will now resign as executive chairwoman of the company, having given up the role of CEO earlier this year.

Sophia is scheduled to speak at a Business Chicks breakfast in Sydney, Australia in just a few hours time, with the sold-out tickets starting at €103 a head. The event remains live on the Business Chicks website, and refers to Nasty Gal as “America’s fastest growing online retailer”.

As for Sophia’s own social media activity, she tweeted this cryptic message last night:

“You have so much more success ahead of you than behind. This is only the beginning,” wrote one follower in a message of support. “More material for book three,” wrote another.

Back in June, Sophia was listed on Forbes Richest Self-Made Women list, which valued her worth at $280m (€257m) and Nasty Gal’s 2015 revenues at $300m (€275m).

As of today it’s still possible to purchase items on Nasty Gal, so it seems the company will continue to operate during the restructure. “Our decision to initiate a court-supervised restructuring will enable us to address our immediate liquidity issues, restructure our balance sheet and correct structural issues, “Nasty Gal’s CEO Sheree Waterson said of the move to declare bankruptcy. “We expect to… emerge stronger.”

Sophia started in online retail ten years ago aged 22, setting up an eBay shop, Nasty Gal Vintage selling vintage clothing and other items. Her company has been the subject of “copycat” allegations in recent years, most notably in 2015, when it mistook Taylor Swift’s Balmain jumpsuit as one of its own, so close was the Nasty Gal version:

Awks.

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