The wholesale arm of fashion brand Lavish Alice has gone into administration as the company restructures to go online only.
The Manchester-based company, which was founded by friends Matthew Newton and Lee Bloor in 2011, said none of its 20 employees based at its head office are impacted by the move.
Quantuma has been appointed to oversee the administration of Fashion Collections International Limited. The directors added the move was made voluntarily.
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Lavish Alice-branded clothes have been worn by celebrities including 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 wholesale arm of the business has "grappled" with historic global supply chain issues, increased freight costs, currency exchange losses, wholesale cancellations, late delivery charges and "squeezed" profit margins, which have "caused financial challenges".
The company added it has now "streamlined its offering" to become an online-only retailer.
Wholesale revenue, through partnerships with the likes of Tessuti, Selfridges, Harvey Nichols, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdales, Nordstrom and ASOS, totalled more than £5m in 2022 while gross revenue was over £17m in 2022.
Mr Newton said: "The Lavish Alice journey is only just beginning. We have traded throughout 2022 and demonstrated consistent post pandemic growth.
"Demand for the brand and website sales are at a record high with revenue up +71% year-on-year and +76% pre-pandemic levels, across 100,000 transactions.
"The results are exceptional, and we’re excited to showcase our new SS23 RTW collection next week.
"We took the difficult decision to prioritise our ongoing efforts and resource into the most profitable part of the business.
"Our 'online-only' and 'online exclusive' proposition will bolster our D2C growth even further, with customers naturally crossing to us directly from our wholesale partners.
"Wholesale margins became increasingly squeezed and harder to service. When carefully balancing their financial penalties, order cancellations, marketing contributions, early settlement discounts along with increased cost of sales and lower margins, it became an impossible challenge. Our resource is best placed maintaining the record growth of pureplay.
"The brand is now able to move forward with a renewed focus on our 600,000 strong D2C client list and we remain in a robust position to deliver on our significant growth plans for 2023."
Quantuma managing director and joint administrator Jeremey Woodside said: "Fast Fashion Collections International Limited is a wholesale, retail and online fashion retailer which hit financial difficulties as a result of the slow Covid trading period.
"Despite year end results for 2022 showing a substantial increase in sales and revenue, the business was struggling with historic liabilities sustained during the pandemic and increased trading costs post Covid.
"The joint administrators are delighted to have secured the future of this Manchester based business, and the jobs of all employees."
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