Co-founder steps down from My-wardrobe.com

Curran, who set up My-wardrobe with his wife Sarah in 2005, will remain an investor and adviser but will not be involved in the day-to-day running of the business. Instead, he has invested an undisclosed sum in etailer Amara and will take up an advisory role in building the business.

Curran told Retail Week: “I wanted a new challenge and My-wardrobe is a much bigger animal now than when we started, and I would prefer now to start from the ground up again. Fashion is also quite established online now but home is in its infancy online so it’s an exciting place to be.”

Amara, set up by former Lehman’s banker Andrew Hood and his wife Sam in 2006, specialises in luxury homewares and carries about 40 brands including Missoni and Ralph Lauren.

Curran would not reveal Amara’s current trading figures but said he wanted to take its turnover to £20m by 2015 and “it’s a long way short of that to date”.

His three-pronged three to five-year plan for Amara is to bump up the brand mix - doubling the number of brands in the next year - develop the site and kick-start a marketing drive.

Curran said: “The founders have done a great job with Amara so far but there is lots more potential. It’s a small business with massive potential both in the UK and internationally.”

He added: “There aren’t many people doing homewares well online. John Lewis would be the exception, but there isn’t really anyone in the luxury homewares market online and we have an opportunity to drive up our market share quickly.”

Curran said Amara would also seek an additional round of fundraising next year to drive growth.

He said that, like luxury fashion brands, the luxury homewares market has been less affected by the recession and “there is plenty of growth to go for”.