Christopher Kane facing closure as the business appoints insolvency administrators
Christopher Kane is to appoint insolvency administrators this week with the business on the brink of collapse. The London Fashion Week brand has reportedly hired FTS Recovery in the hope of securing an investor to save the company.
"This difficult decision has been reached to give the company sufficient time to implement a rescue plan," the label said in a statement to WWD. "A period of accelerated marketing activity will now follow, with a view to locating potential interested parties to either refinance the company’s existing debt, or alternatively locate a purchaser for the business and assets."
The news will come as a shock to many in the industry with Christopher Kane remaining a favourite on the London Fashion Week schedule, known for his playful and inventive designs.
The Scottish fashion designer first emerged on the scene in the early 2000s, and quickly became beloved on the red carpet, worn frequently by names including Alexa Chung and Cate Blanchett, while Michelle Obama and the Duchess of Cambridge also stepped out in his designs.
Kane won various prestigious fashion awards as his company rose to prominence, while he also worked on a very successful collaboration with Topshop and then, in 2013, Kering bought a 51 per cent stake in the company (which he co-owns with his sister, Tammy Kane). However, it was sold back in 2018.
A year later, in 2019, he launched a second company, More Joy, which sat alongside the main brand but produced more mid-range items including T-shirts, sweatshirts and phone cases. It has not been confirmed whether More Joy will be impacted by this filing.
In an interview ahead of his autumn/winter 2023 show in February, Kane opened up to us about how much the industry has changed since he started out, noting the impact of social media on how things operate, but said that he still felt excited to be working in the industry and had a lot of passion for the designs he was putting out.
"I want my clothes to have a superpower quality about them; whether it’s to command attention at the workplace, seduce, or quietly disrupt a cocktail or evening event," he said. "My designs are forever pieces."
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