A fashion brand beloved by the Princess of Wales is rushing to find a ‘saviour’ as fears are raised the company could collapse for the second time in six years.
LK Bennett, a design house often worn by Princess Catherine, is working with Alvarez and Marshall (A&M) on a swift sale process.
The consulting firm has began putting feelers out for possible investors and buyers in recent days, industry sources say.
Founded in 1990 by Linda Bennett with a £15,000 bank loan and £13,000 of her own savings, the designer vowed to bring ‘a bit of Bond Street to the high street’.
And after opening its first store in Wimbledon village, it went on to become a huge British brand, with 200 stores in the UK as well as branches in the US, Russia and China.
LK Bennett captured a niche in British fashion, serving as a middle ground between the price tags of Bond Street and high street retailers.
And the founder’s keen eye for fashion earned her the title of ‘queen of the kitten heel’, with her designs worn by the upper-echelon of society, including Princess Kate and former Prime Minister, Theresa May and TV presenter Holly Willoughby.
Today, the brand has only nine shops, with an additional 13 concessions areas located in larger stores.
It is not known if existing investors would be prepared to hand over more funds to the business, or whether a sale for the designer label was possible, Sky News reported.
Princess Catherine wears LK Bennett for a visit to the RNLI Holyhead Lifeboat Station, in Holyhead, Wales
The brand beloved by the Princess of Walesis rushing to find a ‘saviour’ as fears are raised the company could collapse for the second time in six years
During the insolvency process, contingency plans are typically put in place by advisers in the case of an accelerated sale process.
Currently LK Bennett is owned by Byland UK, a firm founded in 2019 to rescue the fashion brand during its previous run in with insolvency.
Rebecca Feng, who oversaw LK Bennett’s Chinese franchises, created Byland UK.
When the previous deal was struck, she said the firm would continue to be ran rom the UK and that they would maintain its ‘long-standing and undoubted heritage,’
‘This will be achieved through a combination of working with quality British design, and the business’s existing supply chain,’ she added.
The firm’s 2019 administration saw 15 stores shutter their doors.
The brand’s founder Ms Bennett previously sold the business for an estimated £100million to a private equity firm, Phoenix Equity Partners in 2008.
However, she continued to own a stake of the company, later buying back the rest in 2017.
LK Bennett accounts for the period ending on January 27, 2024, show the firm made a £3.5 million post-tax loss
The brand had paid a dividend of £229,000 at the beginning of the year when performance ‘was doing well’.
‘Given the decline in revenue, the directors do not recommend the payment of any further dividends,’ its accounts detailed.
It is not known how many people are currently employed by LK Bennett.
The Daily Mail has approached LK Bennett and A&M for comment.
