High-profile fashion retailer Topshop Australia has collapsed under debts and entered voluntary administration, with the future of its stores and workers under a cloud.
Administrator James Stewart, of Ferrier Hodgson, said the company would continue to trade as normal while it considered its "optimal operating structure".
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Topshop Australia collapses under debt
Fashion retailer Topshop Australia goes into voluntary administration due to mounting debts. Vision: Seven News.
"It will be business as usual as the administrators work closely with Arcadia Group (the UK owners of the Topshop/Topman brand) on supporting and right-sizing the Australian business to a sustainable platform going forward," he said.
"Topshop/Topman is one of the world's best known fast fashion retailers operating nine stand-alone stores, 17 Myer concessions and an online business in Australia."
Mr Stewart said employees would continue to be paid by the administrators.
Topshop Australia is the latest  mainstream fashion retailer to collapse into administration in Australia, and follows the appointment of voluntary administrators at Marcs, David Lawrence, Herringbone and Rhodes & Beckett earlier this year.
Department store giant Myer bought into Austradia, which owns Topshop Australia, in 2015, and has rolled out Topshop and Topman concession outlets at many of its sites.Â
Myer's most recent results, released in early May, showed soft earnings for Topshop, which were down $3 million, exposing Myer to a $600,000 loss given its 20 per cent stake in the business.
A Myer spokesman said the company was "pleased with the performance of Topshop and Topman in our stores and the impact the brands have had on our youth category".Â
Following the release of the results, Myer chief executive Richard Umbers defended the department store's investment in the UK fast-fashion chain.
"It's still a sought-after brand and we're very comfortable we made the right decision," Mr Umbers said.
Across the nation, there are about two dozen Topshop and Topman stores in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia.
Topshop, which launched in Australia in 2011 on Melbourne's Chapel Street, was one of the first international fast-fashion chains to hit Australia, along with Zara, owned by Spanish giant Inditex, Japan's UNIQLO, and the Swedish chain H&M;.Â
However, the UK chain was slow to embrace online retailing in Australia, only launching a local version of its web shop in March this year.
Topshop, like many of the international chains, models its business on high-turnover, low-cost fashion that is often produced at lightning speed; copies of runway styles by international designers can be on the rack within week, not the standard six months it takes regular retailers.
Just this week, Zara re-affirmed its commitment to Australia after posting double-digit sales growth.
Based in the UK, Topshop launched in 1964, sells clothes, shoes, makeup and accessories from hundreds of stores worldwide.
Myer has also struggled with another of its major investments, fashion label sass & bide, which it wholly bought in 2013 after a partial takeover from founders Sarah-Jane Clarke and Heidi Middleton.
The department store's half-yearly sales data revealed sales of the luxury bohemian brand had crashed, slashing $5 million from the department store chain's revenue and accounting for half of Myer's total revenue fall.
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