Netflix has cancelled Girlboss, a comedy based on the life of fashion entrepreneur Sophia Amoruso. Amoruso gained public prominence as the founder of the Nasty Gal clothing company, and the 2014 book that formed the basis of the show was a bestseller. But in the 18 months since the Netflix show was first ordered, Amoruso’s company has essentially collapsed.
In less than a decade, Amoruso built Nasty Gal from an eBay side project into a full-fledged online retailer. Nasty Gal attracted several big venture capital rounds and reached a reported valuation of $200 million, and Amoruso was seen for a time as a tech-world phenom.
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But a string of pregnancy discrimination lawsuits and reports of a toxic company culture tarnished Amoruso’s carefully-crafted message of female empowerment. A combination of overinvestment and revenue declines led to a November 2016 bankruptcy filing. As the show rolled out in April, Nasty Gal’s brand assets were sold to British fashion shop Boohoo.com for just $20 million.
Girlboss, which focused on Amoruso’s early life, was dogged by the disconnect between its go-getter message and the ongoing trouble at Nasty Gal. Varietydescribed the show as “a love letter to a paragon of success that doesn’t exist.”