LK Bennett, a favourite of Kate Middleton who is pictured wearing a £325 silk cream and green polka dot dress from the brand, is set to file for administration
A fashion brand favoured by the Duchess of Cambridge is set to file for administration, putting up to 500 jobs at risk.
High street fashion house LK Bennett is said to be filing a notice of intention to appoint administrators.
The company is said to be working with Ernst & Young to help decide the ‘best way through’ the upcoming ‘difficult and unstable times.’
LK Bennett’s founder, Linda Bennett emailed staff today about the intention to file for administration.
She thanked staff for their ‘hard work and dedication’ and added that she didn’t regret returning to the brand in 2017 to try and ‘reinvigorate’ the label.
LK Bennett is the latest in a line of big high street names to close stores, which has included department store House of Fraser.
Fashion brand Orla Kiely, which was also loved by the Duchess of Cambridge, also went out of business with debts of more than £7.25m (€8.1m) last year.
British affordable luxury brand LK Bennett was founded in 1990 with the vision of bringing ‘a bit of Bond Street luxury to the High Street’.
The company is now well known for its signature kitten heels favoured by celebrities including Kate Middleton.
The brand’s founder Linda Bennett emailed staff early today to tell them about the intention to file for administration
The British brand opened in 1990 and is now well known for its signature kitten heels favoured by celebrities including Kate Middleton
Kate took a two year hiatus from the brand and wasn’t spotted wearing it on any public occasions after August 2016.
But she reaffirmed her love for it, just a few months ago – wearing a green and cream silk polka dot dress for a visit to the Evelina London Children’s hospital, in December 2018.
Kate also chose a teal suit from the brand for her first official engagement with the Queen.
This elegant look included the £395 Jude jacket and £225 Davina dress which she paired with a pillbox hat by James Lock.
Kate is not the only royal to opt for an LK Bennett piece, with Camilla Parker Bowles having worn a pair of their shoes during her wedding to Prince Charles.
The Duchess wore an elegant court shoe at the Guildhall in pale beige suede, with an almond toe and a 5cm heel, designed by Linda Bennett.
Founder Linda Bennett came back to the brand in 2017 after leaving in 2008 when she sold a majority stake in the firm for between £80m and 100m.
Kate also chose a teal suit from the brand for her first official engagement with the Queen
In 2018 it was reported that L.K.Bennett reported losses of £5.9 million in 2016/2017, compared with a £100,000 profit in the previous 12 months.
Total sales also fell by 1.8 per cent to £77.4 million. The company blamed the figures on ‘exceptional costs’ of £28.7 million, spent on corporate restructuring.
At the end of the trading period the brand had 130 stores globally and one third of its group-wide sales were made up by online sales, reports retailgazette.
Last August the company was hit by an IT glitch, forcing it to cease all online trading for three days.
Unhappy customers were stopped from buying anything new from the website, and there was a delay in dispatching existing orders.
In February this year Ms Bennett drafted in advisers form AlixPartners to oversee a strategic review of the company she had recently returned too.
Sources told Sky News at the time that this meant there was a realistic prospect of at least part of the company being sold to an investor.
Ms Bennett’s email to staff today said: ‘I came back to the company in 2017 to try and reinvigorate the brand.
‘It was a difficult decision, but I don’t regret it for a second.
‘I have fought as hard as I can, with all your help to turn the business into the success that I know it deserves to be, and we have had some of our best sales figures and reactions to our recent collections that we have ever had.’
The designer then added: ‘We are going to be working with Ernst & Young to help decide the best way through this.
‘I know that these are difficult and unstable times, and we are doing everything we can to identify the best way forward.
‘I want to thank you for your dedication, hard work and continued support.’
The Queen of the Kitten Heel: How Linda Bennett turned a childhood fascination with her Start-Rite shoes into a £100million empire
Fashion designer Linda Bennett turned her childhood fascination of fashion into a £100million empire which has helped afford her, her husband and daughter a life of luxury in London’s upmarket Notting Hill.
The 56-year-old fashionista is the found of premium womenswear retailer L.K Bennett which today said it would be filing for administration.
She was born and educated in London before training at what is now the London College of Fashion, where she took the prestigious footwear design course at Cordwainers before working with French designer Robert Clergerie.
Her mother was also artistic and practiced Icelandic sculpture while she says most of her inspiration came from her business savvy father who was a successful retail entrepreneur.
The British affordable luxury brand was founded in 1990
At just 26-years-old she saw that no one was producing affordable versions of the shoes being shown on the catwalk and jumped on the opportunity.
The idea for LK Bennett was then born and she then took it upon herself to spend £13,000 of her savings and a bank loan of £15,000, which she repaid within three months of opening her first store.
From then on she was dubbed the ‘Queen of the Kitten Heel’ and created shoes that were the perfect blend of elegance and comfort that could be worn throughout the day, before launching into clothing and other accessories.
In 2002 Bennet won the Entrepreneur of the Year Award, ironically from the same company which is now helping the brand through administration, Ernst and Young.
In 2004 she was made an honoury fellow of the London College of Fashion and in 2006 she received an OBE for services to the fashion industry in the New Year Honours list
Linda Bennett, pictured, came back to the company in 2017 after leaving in 2008 when she sold her majority stake for between £80m and 100m
Bennett founded the brand 29 years ago in 1990 with a store in Wimbledon, London. The brand grew quickly into an international chain and Bennett decided to sell the business to Phoenix Equity Partners and Sirius Equity in 2008 for around £80-100million.
Despite having sold off the brand she retained a stake on the company board, before re-joining in 2017 as a consultant to the management team.
In September 2017 Bennett increased her investment in the company and bought out the remaining equity from private equity owner Phoenix Equity Partners and at the time the brand was operating more than 260 shops and concessions in more than 30 countries.
After the acquisition by Bennett the company stated that it would continue to expand and subsequently launched stores in China, Russia and the US.
Which high street retailers have closed shops in 2018/2019?
The year has seen a bloodbath of Britain’s high streets – with many of the nation’s retailers shutting stores and axing jobs.
Here are some of the big name retailers which have lost out as they face fierce competition from the rise of online shopping
Carpetright
The carpet retailer is closing 92 stores across the UK. These closures represent nearly a quarter of all UK Carpetright stores.
Toys R’ Us
The UK’s largest toy shop went into administration in February 201, leading to an estimated 2,000 redundancies.
House of Fraser
The department store chain was on the verge of heading into administration but was rescued at the eleventh hour by Sports Direct owner Mike Ashley.
Maplin
The electronics giant has gone bust, closing shops across the country and putting thousands of jobs at risk.
Mothercare
The baby and toddler chain is closing 60 shops across the UK putting up to 900 jobs at risk.
Poundworld
Poundworld announced it was going into administration on June 11 after talks with potential buyer R Capital broke down, putting 5,100 jobs at risk.
Homebase
The DIY chain set to close 42 DIY outlets shut, putting around 1,500 jobs at risk.
Marks & Spencer
The retailer announced in May it plans to close 100 stores by 2022, putting hundreds of jobs at risk.
In August stores in Northampton, Falkirk, Kettering, Newmarket, New Mersey Speke, Stockton and Walsall all ceased trading.
The year has seen a bloodbath of Britain’s high streets – with many of the nation’s retailers shutting stores and axing jobs (Poundworld is pictured above)
Orla Keiley
Orla Kiely, the Irish fashion retailer collapsed in September and closed all its stores after a slump in profits.
HMV
In December HMV entered into administration with its flagship London Oxford Street having closed earlier this year.
Evans Cycles
Also in December bicycle retailer Evans started its first wave of store closures after having gone into administration in October. Sports Direct bought the retailer out of administration last year but still announced closures and changes to the brand.
L.K Bennett
Fashion brand L.Bennett announced it was filing for administration on March 1, 2019. Linda Bennett sent employees an email early in the morning to inform them of the news before it hit news outlets.