Navabi bought by City Chic Collective for €6m, founders bow out

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Jul 29, 2021

City Chic Collective has continued its acquisition spree, buying Germany-based Navabi, the plus-size label that’s sold in its domestic market as well as in the UK and France.

The purchase by the stock exchange-listed Australian company comes eight months after it bought the British Evans plus-size brand, the first label that was sold as part of the Arcadia administration process.

Twelve-year-old marketplace retailer Navabi generated revenues of €10.4 million last year and City Chic paid €6 million (A$9.6 million) to buy the label from founders Zahir Dehnadi and Bahman Nedaei who will no longer be involved in its development.

The aim is to widen the European footprint of the online marketplace that sells third-party labels but also operates its own brands. 

Like Evans, which struggled in the face of the pandemic, Navabi has also endured some tough times lately. Despite being online, the pandemic year saw lower customer traffic and its 10 million customers in 2019 dropped to 5.8 million in 2020. That perhaps explains the relatively low purchase price.

But City Chic clearly sees some promise from its first foray into mainland Europe (as it did with Evans in Britain). Its CEO Phil Ryan said the buy “is an exciting strategic opportunity, giving us a great foothold in the €40bn European plus-size market, which is the next key geography in driving towards our vision to lead a world of curves”.