Lavish Alice: Wholesale arm of fashion brand worn by celebrities goes into administration amid restructure
The wholesale arm of fashion brand Lavish Alice has gone bankrupt as the company restructures to go online only.
The Manchester-based company, which was founded in 2011 by friends Matthew Newton and Lee Bloor, said none of its 20 employees at its main office will be affected by the move.
Quantuma has been retained to oversee the administration of Fashion Collections International Limited. Directors added the move was voluntary.
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Elaborate clothing from the Alice brand has been worn by celebrities such as Katy Perry, Kendall and Kylie Jenner, Ashley Graham, Eva Longoria, Jessica Biel, Nicole Richie, Elizabeth Hurley and Lindsay Lohan.
In a statement, Lavish Alice said that while its website “has experienced significant growth and revenue continues to thrive,” the company’s wholesale arm has been “struggling” with historic global supply chain issues, increased freight charges, exchange rate losses, wholesale cancellations, and late shipment fees and “squeezed” profit margins that have “caused financial challenges”.
The company added that it has now “streamlined its offering” to become an online-only retailer.
Lavish Alice is set to go online – only after the wholesale arm has gone into administration(Image: Lavishly Alice)
Wholesale revenues through partnerships with the likes of Tessuti, Selfridges, Harvey Nichols, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdales, Nordstrom and ASOS totaled more than £5m in 2022, while gross revenues in 2022 exceeded £17m.
Mr Newton said: “Lavish Alice’s journey has only just begun. We have traded throughout 2022 and have shown consistent post-pandemic growth.
“Demand for brand and website sales is at a record high with revenue up +71% YoY and +76% pre-pandemic at 100,000 transactions.
“The results are exceptional and we are excited to launch our new SS23 RTW collection next week.
“We have made the difficult decision to focus our ongoing efforts and resources on the most profitable part of the business.
Lavish Alice said none of the 20 staff at headquarters were affected(Image: Lavishly Alice)
“Our ‘online only’ and ‘online exclusive’ offering will further fuel our D2C growth as customers naturally switch to us directly from our wholesale partners.
“Wholesale margins were getting tighter and harder to service. Carefully weighing their financial penalties, order cancellations, marketing contributions, early billing rebates along with increased cost of sales and lower margins became an impossible challenge. Our resource is best placed to record pureplay growth.
“The brand is now poised to move forward with a renewed focus on our 600,000 strong D2C customer list and we remain in a robust position to deliver on our significant growth plans for 2023.”
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