Boohoo owner Debenhams has sold its Nasty Gal brand for just under £12million.

The online retailer, which changed its name from Boohoo last year, said it has sold the women’s fashion label to US firm WSG Brands.

Debenhams boss Dan Finley described the business as ‘non-core’ and said the sale would help bolster its balance sheet amid its turnaround effort. 

The group had paid just under £15million to buy Nasty Gal out of bankruptcy in February 2017. It was founded by Sophia Amoruso as an Ebay shop that sold vintage items of clothes online when she was a student in California in the early 2000s.

Amoruso was named as one of the richest self-made women in the world in 2016 by Forbes but Nasty Gal’s fortunes soured after declining sales and costly lawsuits. Her early days founding the business were depicted in the Netflix series ‘Girl Boss’, based on her autobiography.

Celebrities including Emily Ratajkowski and Cara Delevingne launched fashion collaborations with the business.

But in recent years, Debenham’s youth brands – which also include Boohoo and PrettyLittleThing – have lost shoppers to ultra-cheap Chinese retailer, Shein, as well as resale platform Vinted.

Debenhams said Nasty Gal made £12million in sales and profits of £400,000 in its most recent financial year.

Finley said: ‘Our turnaround continues at pace. The disposal of this non-core asset aligns with our strategy and further strengthens the balance sheet following the £90m sale of our Sheffield Distribution Centre.’

Last week Debenhams Group sold its Sheffield distribution centre to Primark.

The group has been moving away from holding large amounts of its own stock and towards a marketplace model, where third-party brands sell through its platforms in exchange for a fee.

Fast-fashion firm Boohoo bought department store chain Debenhams out of administration in 2021, dispensing with its shops in a major blow to the High Street and switching online.

Finley has pledged to use the Debenhams brand, where Sex and the City star Kim Cattrall fronts a fashion campaign, as a ‘blueprint’ to transform the ailing fortunes of the wider group.

Last year, Debenhams said it was considering selling Manchester-based PrettyLittleThing.

But in January, it said it was ‘pleased with the pace and scale’ of a revival and ‘the resulting material improvement in profitability.’

WSG Brands owns fashion retailers including Von Dutch, whose apparel and caps were popular among Hollywood celebrities in the 2000s including Paris Hilton.