The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
NEW YORK, United States — Charlotte Dellal's luxury footwear and accessories brand, Charlotte Olympia, is in trouble. The London-based brand's three American subsidiaries have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware bankruptcy court citing "unprecedented brick and mortar retail disruption," according to the filing.
With four retail stores in New York, California and Nevada, Charlotte Olympia Holdings's US assets totaled $3.26 million as of November 30, 2017, according to court documents. The US business has never been profitable and lost more than $6 million in 2017. It owes $20 million in unsecured debts, not including its debts to landlords such as the Simon Property Group.
“We are closing our US entity that we set up for our US retail operations, as we are closing the stores. Wholesale business, however remains intact,” president Bonnie Takhar told BoF, declining to comment further.
Charlotte Olympia plans to liquidate all of its US assets as soon as possible, funded by a $410,000 loan from Three14 Ltd., a UK subsidiary of Charlotte Olympia Holdings led by Dellal and Takhar. Recently, both Three14 and Onward Luxury Group SpA, an Italian luxury manufacturer that bought a controlling interest in Charlotte Olympia Holdings in July 2017, said they would no longer financially support the loss-making American subsidiaries, according to court documents.
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In the fiscal year ending March 31, 2017, Charlotte Olympia Holdings saw revenues of £16.8 million (about $23 million) and registered a total comprehensive loss of £6.4 million (about $9 million).
Dellal trained at Giambattista Valli before launching Charlotte Olympia in 2008. She opened the brand's first store in London in 2010, followed by a New York opening in 2012. In 2011 and 2015, Dellal won the accessories designer of the year award at the British Fashion Awards.
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Editor's Note: This article was revised on 23 February 2018. An earlier version of this article misstated that Charlotte Dellal launched her business in 2006, and won the accessories designer of the year award in 2011. This is incorrect. Dellal launched her business in 2008, and was awarded accessories designer of the year both in 2011 and 2015.
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