Maebe overtakes Nike & Adidas in Instagram ranking

Molly-Mae Hague's fashion brand Maebe has overtaken PrettyLittleThing, Nike and Adidas in a UK Instagram fashion ranking compiled by Kolsquare. It placed 11th among more than 1,300 fashion labels analysed.

Maebe generated GBP £2.6 million in earned media value during the period measured, rising 36 places from the previous month. That total came from 257 Instagram posts created by 124 creators.

The brand ranked six places ahead of PrettyLittleThing, where Hague previously served as creative director. It also finished ahead of Chanel, New Look, Uniqlo, Nike and Adidas.

By comparison, PrettyLittleThing generated GBP £2.1 million in earned media value from 1,672 pieces of content and 784 creators, while Nike produced GBP £2 million from 1,468 pieces of content and 811 creators.

Kolsquare's figures suggest Maebe generated roughly GBP £10,000 in earned media value per post. Its 4.8% engagement rate was also the highest among the top 20 brands in the table.

Puma, ranked 30th overall, posted a higher engagement rate of 14.1% but did not make the top 20 by earned media value. The sportswear brand rose 190 places in the latest ranking.

Top brands

Zara led the table with GBP £9.7 million in earned media value, ahead of ASOS on GBP £9.1 million. H&M ranked third with GBP £5.7 million, followed by Primark on GBP £5.5 million and Gymshark on GBP £5.4 million.

Content volumes among the leading brands were far higher than Maebe's. Zara's result came from 3,801 pieces of content produced by 1,791 creators, while ASOS generated 4,963 pieces from 1,874 creators.

According to the data, Maebe's total was achieved with fewer than 7% of ASOS's content volume, making it one of the more notable outliers in the ranking.

Alicia Van der Meer, UK marketing manager at Kolsquare, said the data highlighted how quickly a founder-led brand can gain traction on social media.

"Maebe's performance shows how quickly a founder-led fashion brand can establish itself when it has a strong identity and a highly engaged audience. What is particularly striking is that Maebe has achieved £2.6 million in earned media value from just 257 pieces of content. It isn't relying on the enormous volume of creator mentions generated by many of the brands around it in the ranking. Molly-Mae Hague came to Maebe with an established audience, but follower numbers alone don't guarantee engagement or commercial impact. The data suggests that people aren't simply watching what she does next. They are actively engaging with the brand she has created," Van der Meer said.

Other movers

Elsewhere in the ranking, British lingerie brand Lounge moved ahead of Skims in the lingerie and swimwear category. Lounge generated more than GBP £1 million in earned media value and posted an engagement rate of 16.4%, compared with GBP £797,000 and 3.3% for Skims.

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

Mains London recorded the largest jump, climbing 948 places to 97th. It generated GBP £565,000 in earned media value.

How measured

The analysis covered Instagram content published over one month and included profiles with more than 5,000 followers whose audiences were at least 30% UK-based. Kolsquare tracked all Instagram content mentioning more than 1,300 fashion brands across categories including ready-to-wear, luxury fashion, sportswear, shoes and accessories, lingerie, swimwear, jewellery and watches.

Earned media value was calculated using the Ayzenberg methodology, which assigns a monetary value to social media engagement such as likes, comments and shares. The figures therefore reflect estimated marketing value rather than direct sales.

In the top 20, White Fox Boutique ranked sixth with GBP £4.3 million, Next was seventh with GBP £3.6 million, Shein eighth with GBP £3.3 million and DFYNE ninth with GBP £3.2 million. River Island completed the top 10 on GBP £3.2 million. Below Maebe were Vinted, F&F Clothing, Mango, Chanel, New Look, PrettyLittleThing, Uniqlo, Nike and Sézane.

Maebe ranked 11th with GBP £2.6 million in earned media value.