On Tuesday, Club 21, Luella’s global licensee and distributor for ready-to-wear and accessories, announced that its subsidiary, VSQ Ltd, decided to withdraw from its relationship with the Luella Bartley brand.
Thus, as the six-year relationship comes to an end, the label is forced to cease trading.
A Spring 2010 look from Luella Bartley. Photo: NY Magazine.
According to the backer’s statement, spring orders for the brand could not be fulfilled after last month’s unexpected closure of Luella’s Italian production company, Carla Carini.
While changes at Luella have reportedly been brewing for the past six months, industry insiders also speculate that the business was not hitting its profit targets, according to WWD. Still, the decision comes as a surprise to some; Luella Bartley, the brand’s British designer, was named Designer of the Year at the British Fashion Awards in 2008.
“This is a very disappointing situation for everyone involved,” Bartley said Tuesday, as reported in The Independent. “I have had an incredible team around me…and it is upsetting not to be able to protect jobs in this difficult economic climate.”
The brand has been said to be vitally connected to the return of British fashion, with its “punk” pieces and party dresses sported by the likes of Alexa Chung, Lily Allen and the Geldof sisters.
Five people within Bartley’s design studio and 13 in distribution are said to be among those affected in the decision as they face losing their jobs.
- by Jasmine Thomas
- by Jasmine Thomas
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