Fashion icon Nicole Farhi is latest retail casualty
Many jobs at risk as 'critically acclaimed' label calls in the administrators
NICOLE FARHI, the upmarket British fashion label, has become the latest victim of the squeezed retail market. The company is going into administration, putting 120 jobs at risk.
The label, founded in 1982 by French-born Nicole Farhi and her then husband, French Connection boss Stephen Marks, has five stand-alone stores and concessions in Harvey Nichols, House of Fraser and Selfridges.
The company was sold in 2010 to private equity firm OpenGate before being bought by Kelso Place Asset Management last year.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Kelso Place hoped to elevate the label to the same bracket as luxury brands such as Smythson and Anya Hindmarch.
But restructuring experts Zolfo Cooper announced this morning they had been appointed as administrators.
The move will be all too familiar to Nicole Farhi's creative director Joanna Sykes, who left her last job at Aquascutum just as that firm went into administration.
However, the Daily Telegraph says Nicole Farhi's financial fallout "can in no way be laid at Sykes's door". Her debut collection, shown in February at London Fashion Week, received critical acclaim but hasn't hit shops yet.
Analysts say the firm has simply "run out of cash".
The chain's collapse is the latest in a long line of retail casualties that includes HMV, Jessops and Blockbuster. Only last month ModelZone and Internacionale collapsed.
Topshop owner Sir Philip Green has demanded a fundamental overhaul of the tax rates paid by Britain's businesses to help support struggling retailers. In a "strongly worded attack" on the current system he called for a rates freeze and a "rates holiday" for shop owners.
Peter Saville, a partner at Zolfo Cooper, said "the decline in high street spending coupled with rising costs" had piled financial pressure on Nicole Farhi.
But he added: "We are already in discussions with a number of interested parties."
The Times reports there is speculation that Farhi, now married to playwright Sir David Hare, may take back the reins of the business. Although she is no longer involved in the day-to-day running of the company she has said she has always maintained a good relationship with the brand's owners.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
The clown car cabinet
Opinion Even 'Little Marco' towers above his fellow nominees
By Mark Gimein Published
-
Ed Park's 6 favorite works about self reflection and human connection
Feature The Pulitzer Prize finalist recommends works by Jason Rekulak, Gillian Linden, and more
By The Week US Published
-
6 fantastic homes in Columbus, Ohio
Feature Featuring a 1915 redbrick Victorian in German Village and a modern farmhouse in Woodland Park
By The Week Staff Published
-
Labour shortages: the ‘most urgent problem’ facing the UK economy right now
Speed Read Britain is currently in the grip of an ‘employment crisis’
By The Week Staff Published
-
Will the energy war hurt Europe more than Russia?
Speed Read European Commission proposes a total ban on Russian oil
By The Week Staff Published
-
Will Elon Musk manage to take over Twitter?
Speed Read The world’s richest man has launched a hostile takeover bid worth $43bn
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
Shoppers urged not to buy into dodgy Black Friday deals
Speed Read Consumer watchdog says better prices can be had on most of the so-called bargain offers
By The Week Staff Published
-
Ryanair: readying for departure from London
Speed Read Plans to delist Ryanair from the London Stock Exchange could spell ‘another blow’ to the ‘dwindling’ London market
By The Week Staff Published
-
Out of fashion: Asos ‘curse’ has struck again
Speed Read Share price tumbles following the departure of CEO Nick Beighton
By The Week Staff Published
-
Universal Music’s blockbuster listing: don’t stop me now…
Speed Read Investors are betting heavily that the ‘boom in music streaming’, which has transformed Universal’s fortunes, ‘still has a long way to go’
By The Week Staff Published
-
EasyJet/Wizz: battle for air supremacy
Speed Read ‘Wizz’s cheeky takeover bid will have come as a blow to the corporate ego’
By The Week Staff Published