Molly Mae Hague’s Maebe overtakes PrettyLittleThing, Nike and Adidas in UK fashion rankings

Less than two years after its launch, Maebe has climbed to 11th place among more than 1,300 fashion brands analysed on Instagram, generating £2.6 million in estimated earned media value from just 257 pieces of content.

Molly Mae Hague spent several years as one of the most recognisable faces associated with PrettyLittleThing. Now the fashion label she founded herself has overtaken her former employer in one measure of influence in the British fashion market.

Maebe, launched by Hague in September 2024, generated an estimated £2.6 million in earned media value on Instagram between May 25 and June 26 this year, according to analysis by influencer marketing platform Kolsquare.

That was enough to place the brand 11th among more than 1,300 fashion businesses included in the study, up 36 places in a month.

More striking is the company it now keeps.

Maebe ranked ahead of Chanel, New Look, PrettyLittleThing, Uniqlo, Nike and Sézane. PrettyLittleThing, where Hague previously served as creative director, finished 17th with £2.1 million in estimated earned media value.

The figures offer an interesting measure of how the economics of fashion influence are changing. Scale still matters, but the volume of content surrounding a brand does not necessarily determine its impact.

Maebe's £2.6 million figure came from only 257 pieces of Instagram content produced by 124 creators.

PrettyLittleThing required 1,672 pieces of content from 784 creators to generate £2.1 million. Nike generated £2 million from 1,468 pieces of content involving 811 creators.

On that basis, Maebe generated the equivalent of roughly £10,000 in estimated earned media value for every piece of content included in the analysis.

Its engagement rate was 4.8 per cent, the highest among the top 20 brands in the overall ranking.

For Hague, it marks an important development in the transition from influencer and fashion ambassador to founder.

An enormous social media following can give a new business an audience from its first day, but it cannot guarantee that consumers will form an independent relationship with the brand itself. Maebe's performance suggests that the label is succeeding in converting at least some of Hague's considerable personal influence into attention for the business she has built.

Alicia Van der Meer, UK marketing manager at Kolsquare, said the results demonstrated how rapidly a founder led fashion company could establish itself when supported by a clear identity and engaged audience.

“What is particularly striking is that Maebe has achieved £2.6 million in earned media value from just 257 pieces of content,” she said.

“It isn't relying on the enormous volume of creator mentions generated by many of the brands around it in the rankings.”

Van der Meer added that Hague's existing audience had provided an advantage, but argued that follower numbers alone could not account for the result.

“The data suggests that people aren't simply watching what she does next. They are actively engaging with the brand she has created.”

Zara and ASOS remain out in front

At the top of the market, Britain's largest fashion names continue to generate social media attention on a considerably greater scale.

Zara led Kolsquare's ranking with £9.7 million in estimated earned media value, overtaking ASOS on £9.1 million. H&M followed with £5.7 million, Primark with £5.5 million and Gymshark with £5.4 million.

Yet the disparity in the amount of content required to produce those figures is considerable.

Zara's result was generated from 3,801 pieces of content involving 1,791 creators. ASOS recorded 4,963 pieces from 1,874 creators.

Maebe produced fewer than 7 per cent as many pieces of content as ASOS, while generating more than a quarter of its estimated earned media value.

The wider ranking also provides evidence of how quickly attention can shift online.

Jacquemus climbed 152 places to 29th, generating £1.5 million in estimated earned media value, while boohooMAN rose 83 places to 25th with £1.6 million.

Mains London recorded the largest rise, climbing 948 positions to 97th with an estimated £565,000.

British lingerie company Lounge, meanwhile, moved ahead of Kim Kardashian's Skims within the lingerie and swimwear category. Lounge generated more than £1 million in estimated earned media value and recorded an engagement rate of 16.4 per cent, compared with £797,000 and 3.3 per cent for Skims.

The twenty brands attracting the greatest value on Instagram

Kolsquare's analysis placed the leading fashion brands as follows:

Zara, £9.7 million ASOS, £9.1 million H&M, £5.7 million Primark, £5.5 million Gymshark, £5.4 million White Fox Boutique, £4.3 million Next, £3.6 million Shein, £3.3 million DFYNE, £3.2 million River Island, £3.2 million Maebe, £2.6 million Vinted, £2.5 million F&F Clothing, £2.4 million Mango, £2.4 million Chanel, £2.4 million New Look, £2.3 million PrettyLittleThing, £2.1 million Uniqlo, £2 million Nike, £2 million Sézane, £1.9 million

The figures should not be confused with sales or company valuations. Earned media value is an estimate intended to place a monetary value on social media engagement, including likes, comments and shares.

Kolsquare examined Instagram content published between May 25 and June 26, restricting its analysis to profiles with more than 5,000 followers and audiences that were at least 30 per cent UK based.

What the results provide is therefore a snapshot of attention rather than a league table of Britain's largest fashion businesses.

For Maebe, however, that snapshot is significant.

Hague's relationship with PrettyLittleThing was one of the defining commercial partnerships to emerge from the first generation of Love Island stars. To have built a label that now sits above it in an influential measure of social media performance represents a notable reversal.

The larger question is whether that attention can be sustained.

Fashion brands built around prominent founders can arrive with something traditional start ups spend years attempting to acquire: recognition. Turning recognition into a durable fashion house is a considerably more difficult task.

For the moment, Maebe appears to have something many larger brands spend heavily trying to manufacture: an audience that is paying attention.