Mike Welch and Sarah Murray join forces at Atterley.com

An online fashion retailing venture that has the backing of Blackcircles entrepreneur Mike Welch will ship to 22 countries from day one when it launches this summer.

Atterley.com, which will offer a global marketplace for independent fashion boutiques, is rapidly assembling a group of “founding partners” ahead of July’s roll-out. Edinburgh-based boutique Jane Davidson – owned and run by Sarah Murray – is now on board, with Murray joining the Atterley team as an adviser.

Welch, the founder of Borders-based online tyre fitter Blackcircles.com, which was sold to French giant Michelin last year, acquired the intellectual property assets of Atterley in February from administrators at KPMG.

The venture is now being repositioned as the “go-to” site for fashion boutiques looking to gain access to a much larger customer base in the UK and internationally.

Welch said: “By assembling a network under the Atterley brand, we can create economies of scale in product range, marketing and distribution costs that makes online very viable for our boutique partners, many of whom have previously found it challenging to operate online.

“Sarah Murray brings what I’d describe as the ‘conscience of the boutique’ to Atterley.com thinking and decision-making.”