Nitin Passi (born November 1982) is founder and owner of fashion retailer

Missguided MGL Realisations (2022) Limited (trading as Missguided) is a UK-based multichannel retailer selling clothes aimed at women aged 16-35 years old. Missguided's headquarters were in Stretford, Greater Manchester until 2015 when they moved to Tra ...

. According to ''The Sunday Times Rich List'' in 2019, he had a net worth of £250 million.

Early life

Born in

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

, Passi grew up in

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

and Hong Kong and briefly lived in New York. His grandfather moved to the UK from India in the 1960s and set up a knitwear factory. Passi went to

Cranleigh School Cranleigh School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) in the village of Cranleigh, Surrey. History It was opened on 29 September 1865 as a boys' school 'to provide a sound and plain education, on the principles o ...

and

Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a UK public university, public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is ...

, where he studied business management. After graduation, he worked for his father's fashion wholesaler.

Career

In 2008, Passi founded Missguided from a factory in

Prestwich Prestwich ( ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, Greater Manchester, England, north of Manchester city centre, north of Salford and south of Bury. Historically part of Lancashire, Prestwich was the seat of the ancient parish o ...

, Greater Manchester, with a £50,000 loan from his dad, using £3,000 to set up the website and £5,000 to buy stock. He repaid the loan within 6 months. Passi has said that the launch of the company was originally motivated by recognising the growth of online retail and the fewer fashion options available for younger women. The company has partnered with a number of celebrities, including

Nicole Scherzinger Nicole Scherzinger (; born Nicole Prascovia Elikolani Valiente, June 29, 1978) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, actress, and television personality. She is best known as the lead singer of the Pussycat Dolls, one of the best-selling g ...

, Sofia Richie & most recently

Sean John Sean John is a privately held fashion lifestyle company created by music mogul Sean Combs. The line made its fashion debut with a men's sportswear collection for the spring 1998 season. Individuals of note who have represented the brand in advert ...

, and Passi credits the success of the brand to its use of celebrities and its ability to reach consumers via social media networks. In 2016 and 2017, the brand opened physical retail outlets in Bluewater and

Westfield Stratford City Westfield Stratford City is a shopping centre in Stratford, east London, which opened on 13 September 2011. With a total retail floor area of , it is the largest urban shopping centre in the UK by land area and the 4th-largest shopping cen ...

. By 2018, the company revealed it has fallen into the red and was planning to make redundancies. In 2019, it was announced that Missguided would close its Westfield store. In 2018, Passi was reprimanded for failing to appear at a

Parliamentary Select Committee A select committee is a committee made up of a small number of parliamentary members appointed to deal with particular areas or issues originating in the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy. Select committees exist in the British Parliam ...

inquiry into sustainability and sending a colleague in his stead. In April 2022, Passi stood down as CEO of Missguided.

Personal life

Passi once owned a pink

Lamborghini Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. () is an Italian brand and manufacturer of luxury sports cars and SUVs based in Sant'Agata Bolognese. The company is owned by the Volkswagen Group through its subsidiary Audi. Ferruccio Lamborghini (1916–1993) ...

and calls himself a "fitness fanatic".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Passi, Nitin 1982 births Living people British people of Indian descent British chief executives