Calvetron Brands to shut all remaining Jacques Vert and Precis concessions
Administrators for Calvetron Brands, the owner of the Jacques Vert and Precis fashion brands, have announced that they will be closing the remaining Jacques Vert and Precis concessions in the UK, Republic of Ireland and Canada.
This will result in a further 500 retail redundancies. The news follows the announcement in June by administrators Duff & Phelps that 102 concessions had been earmarked for closure.
In addition, around 90 jobs will be affected in the global head office and distribution centre where a small number of staff will be retained in the short term. A further 250 staff are affected in Canada.
Benjamin Wiles, joint administrator, said: “Following our appointment on 4 May 2018, the joint administrators have continued to trade the business, allowing a period of time for us to market the business and assets for sale as a going concern. We have explored a number of potential options, however no viable offers for the business as a going concern have been received.”
The business was originally founded by two tailors from the East End of London in 1972, then in 1977 they created the Jacques Vert brand. The company expanded into a multi-branded fashion retailing group in 2002 with the acquisition of William Baird. In 2012, Jacques Vert merged with the Irisa group to become the Jacques Vert Group and then in 2016 changed its name to Style Group Brands. In June 2017 SGBL went into administration and was sold via a pre-pack to CBL.
Wiles added: “We have today served notice of the termination of the remaining concessions and retail staff have been advised. We are retaining a number of head office staff for between two to four months to assist with the trade-out.
“Calvetron Brands has faced the perfect storm of extremely difficult trading conditions on the high street, rising costs and low customer confidence all of which hindered our ability to secure a buyer.”
