The LK Bennett fashion brand that counts the Duchess of Cambridge among its biggest fans is on the brink of a collapse that would put 500 jobs at risk.
The 29 year old company, founded by the “Queen of the Kitten Heel” Linda Bennett in Wimbledon Village, is in talks with administrators EY to help decide the “best way through” the upcoming “difficult and unstable times.”
Ms Bennett set up the business in 1990 with a goal to produce “something in-between the designer footwear you find in Bond Street and those on the high street”.
Celebrity customers also include Pippa Middleton and Holly Willoughby.
It comes a year after the then Home Secretary Amber Rudd promised settled status application for EU citizens would be “as easy as setting up an online account at LK Bennett.”
In recent years the company has been battered by weakened consumer confidence and soaring business rates and rents.
It revealed a £48.4 million loss in its last set of accounts for the year to July 2017 and warned “the decision to leave the European Union has increased economic uncertainty and has caused exchange rate volatility. This has led to an increase in costs and has put pressure on margins.”
In an email to staff Ms Bennett, who returned to the struggling label in 2017 after selling a controlling stake in 2007, thanked them for their “hard work and dedication.”
She said: “Shortly we will be announcing our intention to file for administration and I wanted to let you know before this happened.”
It is expected that the administration will go ahead early next week if no new investment can be found.
LK Bennett has 41 standalone stores in the UK including a flagship on Brook Street in Mayfair, and major branches on Marylebone High Street, King’s Road, Chelsea, and at Westfield London shopping centre. It also has stores in Paris and New York and concessions in major department stores. In total it trades from 200 branded outlets.
