Some customers of the online fashion site, which owed more than £210m when it collapsed in March, are also unable to get refunds Designer brands including Gucci and Anya Hindmarch have been left millions of pounds out of pocket and some customers will not get refunds after online fashion site Matchesfashion collapsed owing more than £210m last month. Customers who bought designer items prior to the administration are not able to return items or get a refund, according to a report by administrators published on Wednesday ..read more

I returned two coats and the parcel was lost and then it went into administration At the end of January I bought two coats from Matchesfashion for £902. I returned them, but the parcel has been lost and now Matches has gone into administration and I don’t have the coats or the money. I used the DHL labels provided to send them back on 27 February, and followed up a week later as I had not received a refund. I was told my package was still in transit, so I returned to the drop-off point, where staff said it would have been collected that day ..read more

The former Spice Girl’s collection with the high street chain is likely to be a fruitful new venture As a twentysomething Spice Girl, Victoria Beckham proclaimed that she wanted to be “as famous as Persil automatic”. Now, as she enters her sixth decade, the pop star turned designer has eclipsed her goal. On Tuesday, her debut designer collection for the high street chain Mango landed globally online and in select stores. By 8am in London a queue had formed outside the brand’s store on Oxford Street as those inside grappled to get their hands on tailored pieces, evening wear and jewellery ..read more

Shoppers spend more on promotions as Easter lifts sales of chocolate eggs and hot-cross buns Business live – latest updates Grocery price inflation in Great Britain has slowed to 3.2%, the lowest since November 2021, as the cost of toilet rolls, butter and milk fell and people spent more on store promotions. The decline in the four weeks to 14 April marked the 14th monthly drop in a row, and compares with an annual rate of 4.5% this time last month, according to the retail analysts Kantar. The slowdown in grocery inflation was aided by a big increase in promotional spending, with items bough ..read more

Consumers assume Australia has milk production covered – but the national dairy herd is declining and imports are at record highs Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast If the last thing you remember about Australian dairy farmers is the $1 milk price war, it is worth thinking a little more deeply about the white in your flat white and what it signifies for food producers. Last year, the standing committee on agriculture’s final report into food security, chaired by Labor MP Meryl Swanson, recommended a National Food Plan ..read more

Independent shopkeepers say prices they pay at supermarket’s cash-and-carry arm Booker are often higher than in Tesco stores Village shopkeepers say Tesco is consistently undercutting them by selling products for less in its stores than via its wholesale business Booker, stoking concerns about the power of the UK’s biggest supermarket chain. Tesco, which has 27% of the UK grocery market, bought the cash-and-carry group in 2017 for £3.7bn, promising that the deal would benefit shoppers and independent retailers ..read more

Scheme is part of effort to reduce ‘staggering’ quantities of textiles going to landfill or incinerator Instead of throwing stained, ripped and misshapen clothing in the bin, Britons are being asked to stick the dregs of their wardrobe in the post in a trial aimed at tackling the “staggering” quantity of textiles sent to landfill or incinerated each year. A third of consumers do not know what to do with tops, dresses and trousers that can no longer be worn, figures show, with a similar number admitting to putting such items in their household waste bin ..read more

New album The Tortured Poets Department flies off the shelves as Swift breaks record for most Spotify streams in a single day Taylor Swift fans joined queues outside vinyl shops yesterday for the annual Record Store Day in the hope of securing a limited edition note from “the desk of Taylor Swift”. The “handwritten” note came with a limited number of copies of the musician’s latest album, The Tortured Poets Department, which was released on Friday ..read more

Body armour suppliers say demand for protective clothing has risen sharply in past two years Staff wearing stab vests in shopping centres are becoming an increasingly common sight across the UK, after soaring demand for body armour amid a rise in violent and abusive incidents. A British Retail Consortium report found that instances of violence and abuse in shopping centres rose 65% from 2021-22 to 2022-23. Body armour suppliers say demand for stab vests to be worn by shopping centre security staff has soared in the past two years ..read more

Watchdog rules that vote should be held at Coventry warehouse to test support for union recognition Business live – latest updates Amazon could be forced to recognise a trade union for the first time in the UK after members of the GMB at the internet retailer’s Coventry warehouse were granted permission to hold a legally binding ballot. The Central Arbitration Committee (CAC), the independent statutory body that adjudicates on collective bargaining rights, has ruled that a vote should be held at the site to test support for union recognition ..read more