DVF closes London store, UK division is in administration

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
May 26, 2020

Diane von Furstenberg has closed her London store, which was located on Bruton Street in Mayfair, with the firm’s DVF UK subsidiary going into administration at the same time.

In a letter sent to customers, von Furstenberg said: “It’s with a lot of sadness that DVF UK had to close due to the very difficult present situation.”

It’s just the latest in a succession of business failures directly caused by the pandemic and the ensuing lockdown with Cath Kidston, Laura Ashley and Oasis/Warehouse all victims of the plunge in fashion spending. Debenhams is also operating in administration but expects to emerge post-lockdown.

DVF’s finance chief said the pandemic means the company is “resetting its business model,” The Times reported.

There are likely to be many companies thinking that way at present with businesses looking at how they can kick-start consumer interest in fashion once again, work out the best way to proceed as the catwalk calendar faces a prolonged period of disruption and right-size their store estates globally.

Of course, many companies (including all those mentioned above that have gone into administration) had struggled for some years in the face of consumers shifting online and the Brexit-linked downturn.

In fact, the British subsidiary of von Furstenberg’s company, DVF Studio UK Ltd, had itself mentioned doubts about its ability to continue as a going concern when its last set of results were filed last October. They covered the year to December 2018.