The differentiated fashion streetwear and sportswear retailer is growing against the wider backdrop of a retail rut. With AURELIUS supporting its journey, Footasylum has innovated and entertained its way to success.
Footasylum likes to do things differently. While many retailers shore up bricks-and-mortar defensively against a tide of online threats, the fashion retailer will have opened eight new stores and upgraded two more by the end of 2026. Similar numbers are planned for 2027. Celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, the firm also announced record revenues in its latest results.
Not your standard retailer, then.
Disruptive, multi-channel entertainer
As others focus on click and collect, prioritising faceless efficiency over a holistic offering, Footasylum offers a disruptive, entertaining customer and brand experience through its curated content, created for its YouTube channel and immersive in-store designs. Since AURELIUS took ownership from sports retailer and previous owner JD Sports, Footasylum has metamorphosised from traditional retailer to a multifaceted firm with various sales channels.
Its aim to offer a quirky, unique retail experience of fun, creativity, and innovation is part of Footasylum’s wider DNA – and something the company’s roughly 2,600 employees appreciate, whether they work in-store, the company’s head office, the studio, or the warehouse.
“The backing from AURELIUS has been instrumental in helping us move quickly and decisively, and their ongoing support and bespoke operational advice remains a key driver of our transformation,” says Footasylum CEO David Pujolar.
People matter…
Indeed, the importance of people meant that new owner AURELIUS set to work quickly to build out a motivated and effective leadership team at Footasylum to reflect its ambitions. Nick Scott, highly experienced and award-winning, was appointed as CFO in early 2023, and about a year later industry expert David Pujolar joined as CEO. He went on to realign the organisation and strengthen its Executive Leadership Team, including appointing Will Van Rensburg as new Chief Commercial Officer in 2024.
…and so does Tech
People are most effective when the tools they work with are state-of-the-art. So, after completing the acquisition, AURELIUS moved quickly with Footasylum’s IT transformation, meeting its aim to finish most of the work within 12 months.
“Having looked at various IT models, we ultimately came to the decision to stop building our own systems and start buying products,” explains Stephan Rahmede, Senior Managing Director at AURELIUS WaterRise.
Footasylum has since partnered with leading software providers to modernise its operations and stores, and has worked with an outsourced provider to enhance the customer journey and loyalty proposition.
In 2023, the retailer opened its first fully mobile PoS store in Bury (Greater Manchester), eliminating fixed till points after an overnight transformation. Three more stores soon followed, culminating in the Oxford Street flagship – now the “blueprint” for Footasylum’s ongoing roll-out. AURELIUS WaterRise continues to support the ambitious store expansion and customer-first digital proposition.
Sprinting ahead with record revenues
High Trustpilot ratings (4.5) help Footasylum to go further and faster: in its financial year 2025 (which concluded at the end of January 2025), it delivered record sales, up 9.4% to reach almost £350 million. Exclusive brand sales were up 101% to reach £33.7m, now accounting for 10% of group revenue – double last year’s 5%. Meanwhile, net profit soared 625% to almost £20 million.
It’s flying in the current financial year, too: total sales for the first 21 weeks are up 10.5% year-on-year and tracking slightly ahead of plan. The gross margin is also ahead of both last year and of plan, while like-for-like retail sales are up owing to strong performance from Footasylum’s exclusive brands (up 17%).
Expansion in all directions
The last year and a half have seen the company continue this expansion: it upsized its North-East flagship at Metro Centre (Gateshead) and Merry Hill (Dudley), and also opened at Union Square (Aberdeen), Golden Square (Warrington), Frenchgate (Doncaster), Parkgate (Rotherham), and Eagles Meadow (Wrexham). More recently, new stores were opened in New Square (West Bromwich), Parc Trostre (Llanelli, Wales), Wellington Square (Stockton) and the Cornmill Shopping Centre (Darlington). Further openings are planned, including an upsized Leeds Trinity Centre space.
“Our brand recognition, particularly among our core 16–24 demographic, continues to grow, supported by new physical stores, alongside our distinctive content and social strategy. With a strong pipeline of new material to inspire, engage and entertain, we’re continuing to grow an audience that now numbers in the millions,” says Pujolar.
But it’s not just about the number of stores, it’s also about the quality of the offering. So Footasylum has formed strategic partnerships with global brands such as Nike, Adidas and New Balance, to name a few. Additionally, the company’s Junior and Nursery categories have been particularly strong, increasing 42% and 45%, respectively.
Today, Footasylum is proud to offer 100 third-party brands as well as 10 of its own – which represent roughly a third of the company’s net sales.
AURELIUS has also supported the investment in a best-in-class customer app which launched in the summer to continue its omnichannel push. It is already paying off: in the short time since its launch at the end of July, it already contributed over a fifth of Footasylum’s revenue share, and like-for-like sales are up 58%.
International expansion is also on the cards in the medium term, with the Middle East being explored at the moment. In addition to online sales, wholesale and distribution partnerships may propel Footasylum’s international ambitions.
“The journey of Footasylum is testament to the power of operational transformation. Our AURELIUS WaterRise team provides bespoke advice, supports critical projects, and ultimately creates more value – drawing on 20 years of experience in transforming businesses,” said Matthias Täubl, Partner at AURELIUS WaterRise.