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Ted Baker’s remaining 31 stores are expected to close this week, five months after emerging from bankruptcy.
More than 500 jobs could be at risk as talks with retail magnate Mike Ashley over a future licensing partnership appear to have stalled.
The company behind the fashion brand’s UK stores, No Ordinary Designer Label Limited (NODL), collapsed in March, with its liquidators overseeing the closure of the stores.
According to a source Sky NewsTuesday is expected to be the last trading day.
Since announcing its insolvency, the company has closed 15 stores in the UK and laid off around 245 employees.
Before its bankruptcy, Ted Baker had 46 stores in the UK and employed around 975 people.
Authentic Brands, the US-based company behind Juicy Couture and Reebok, continues to own Ted Baker’s intellectual property. Ashley’s Fraser Group is reportedly in talks with Authentic for a deal that includes both Ted Baker and Reebok.
The collapse of the UK stores could mean the end of the brand on the high street after it was founded in 1988 by Ray Kelvin and was known for its patterned and floral clothing.
The brand is currently still sold through department stores and retailers such as John Lewis and House of Fraser.
The troubles began in 2019 when its founder was accused of inappropriate behavior, which he denied. His successor, Lindsay Page, and its chief executive, David Bernstein, resigned the following year after a profit warning.
The company was delisted from the London Stock Exchange in 2022. NODL attributed the move in part to damages incurred during a partnership with Dutch company AARC Group, as well as the “significant arrears” that had accumulated during the collaboration.
No Ordinary Designer Label decided to end its partnership with AARC in January, citing the partner’s failure to deliver on its promises to inject money into the company.
