Australia’s Colette by Colette Hayman collapses, has already exited UK

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Feb 4, 2020

Australian fast fashion accessories retailer Colette by Colette Hayman has gone into voluntary administration putting 140 stores and over 300 jobs at risk.
 

The affordable handbags, jewellery and fashion accessories business is owned by the CBCH group of companies, operating 126 stores across Australia and 14 more in New Zealand. It had opened a franchise store in the UK at Westfield Stratford in 2017 but this later closed. The products are also available through Foschini in South Africa. 
 
The company has been was placed into voluntary administration, Deloitte has announced.
 
"Colette By Colette Hayman has, unfortunately, been impacted by the current weak retail environment, as have many others," Deloitte partner Vaughan Strawbridge said. “Our focus is on continuing to trade the business while we seek either a recapitalisation of the group or a sale of the business.”
 
But he added: “Given the strength of the brand we are confident we will be able to secure a future for the business and preserve the employment of as many people as possible.”
 
The company has annual gross sales of A$140m, Deloitte said, with volume of around 3m handbags a year. 

The failure marks the fourth major Australian retailer to collapse in the last few months, including fashion retailers Jeanswest in January and Bardot in November.
 
Continuing poor trading conditions, high rents and weak consumer confidence means analysts are warning other major retailers remain on the danger list for the first half of the year.