Job losses and store closures are expected to quickly follow the collapse of Sydney suit-maker Herringbone and upmarket stablemate Rhodes & Beckett.
Administrator Cor Cordis warned it would shut down loss-making stores and do its best to "redeploy" staff as fast as it could.
The collapse of the premium suiting chains comes just a week after high-profile labels Marcs and David Lawrence faltered under the weight of almost $30 million in debt and warnings of more collapses to come.
Cor Cordis' Bruno Secatore said early indications pointed to a number of underperforming or loss-making stores across both the Herringbone and Rhodes & Beckett chains but he would not reveal the size of the debts.
Both brands are majority owned and supplied by German luxury apparel maker van Laack, which has been trying to negotiate a sale of the businesses for some months now.
Van Laack is also the biggest creditor.
The two brands are currently trading out of 29 stores with a total of 140 staff and Mr Secatore said it was already undertaking a review of the stores.
"We will make an assessment in the next 24 hours as to which ones we close down and as a result of that we will try and redeploy as many staff as we can," Mr Secatore said.
"We are still trying to determine the quantum of unsecured creditors, the secured creditor debt and employee entitlements.
"Our main aim is to determine what stores are burning cash because we need to deal with those."
Cor Cordis said the store closures were part of a "clean-up" process to make the labels more attractive to a potential buyer in this tough market.
Mr Secatore said the online sales for both brands were "booming" and it was possible these operations would get sold separately.
Our main aim is to determine what stores are burning cash because we need to deal with those.
Bruno Secatore
"We would like to sell them as a package but we would accept offers on both brands separately," Mr Secatore said.
"We understand that both brands are well-regarded and dominate their premium segments in the Australian market so finding a buyer for the ongoing business is a priority for us."
Herringbone was bought out of administration by van Laack in late 2008 after the business was hit by a sales slump and weak sales forecasts for the 2009 year.
The job losses at Herringbone and Rhodes & Beckett will add to the retail rout that threatens to claim more than 3000 jobs from December.
The collapse of kids chain Pumpkin Patch and Payless Shoes late last year signalled how much the unseasonable weather conditions as well as increased competition from global behemoths like H&M; had hurt local brands and hollowed out the discretionary apparel sector.
Insolvency groups warn there is more bad news to come in the sector as apparel outfits battle to balance weakening sales against rising costs, including property and wages bills.
Mr Secatore identified rising overheads, unfavourable leases, changing consumer behaviour and digital sales as the common threads in recent retail collapses as well as deep discounting.
He said the "fire sales" that were commonplace in Australian retail were rendering businesses "unprofitable".
"If you're continuously selling stock under cost and you haven't got something else to prop you up then of course you're going to make losses," Mr Secatore said.
According to the latest inflation data, clothing and footwear prices slipped by 0.9 per cent in the December quarter as pressure from new entrants and online players weighed on Australia's fragile apparel sector.
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