Mahabis new owners ditch Facebook, focus on high street

Cox has plans in place to make Mahabis available in high street retailers across the UK, US, Europe and Asia, as well as producing new ranges and styles to “give people a reason to buy another pair.”

Simba Sleep founder Cox, bought the upmarket slipper company today after the business fell into administration last month,

Gareth Roberts, partner at Mahabis’ adminstrator KRE Corporate Recovery, previously told Retail Week a key cause of start-up’s collapse was spiralling marketing costs.

Cox told Retail Week today that under new ownership, Mahabis would pivot away from its previous marketing strategy.

“The business relied heavily on Facebook but we’re going to divert away from that channel,” said Cox.

Cox added that founder Ankur Shah, who will not be involved in Mahabis in any capacity under its new ownership, had “built a great business in Mahabis, which unfortunately just stumbled at a critical point”.

“It has an established brand name and good customer recognition having already sold nearly a million pairs of its iconic design footwear in over 100 countries in just over 4 years,” he said.

“By improving the sales mix and gross margin we want to build a £100m business, with at least 15% EBITDA, within five years.”

Mahabis slippers have previously been sold for around £70 and Cox intends on retaining the product’s premium pricing.