A British online footwear marketplace entered administration last month, but has now been rescued. Laced Europe Ltd operates as a platform for trading rare trainers and luxury goods from some of the world’s biggest brands, including Nike, Adidas, New Balance and Supreme. Founded in 2015, it helped connections between buyers and sellers of exclusive items. The company’s turnover was reported as £9million this year. However, Quantuma’s Terri Mulgrew and Michael Kiely were appointed as joint administrators on September 22. Laced had faced numerous challenges in recent years as its period of growth was followed by worsening market conditions. The business became dependent on achieving high transaction volumes to sustain its cost base after expanding its workforce, warehouse capacity, marketing and technology expenditure. In 2022, declining consumer spending, inflation, heightened competition and rising courier costs impacted sales and profit margins. Management made efforts to cut costs, but ultimately, the company exhausted its working capital. It proved unable to secure additional investment and could no longer satisfy its liabilities, resulting in insolvency. Following the appointment of administrators, …