Liberated Brands, which until recently operated skateboard and surfing-inspired retail brands including Quiksilver, Billabong and Volcom, has filed bankruptcy as more customers choose “fast fashion” competitors.
Liberated sought court protection in Delaware Sunday, saying it intends to close its stores as part of a wind-down of its North American operations. The company, which had operated the brands under a deal with brand licenser Authentic Brands Group LLC, said it will also seek to sell its international businesses and has closed its corporate offices and laid off nearly 1,400 employees.
The bankruptcy filing caps a rapid rise and sudden fall of a business that was founded in 2019 after Volcom’s management team sold that brand to Authentic, which has acquired several several retail brands through Chapter 11. Liberated listed more than $100 million in liabilities on its Chapter 11 petition and has lined up a $35 million loan to fund the bankruptcy.
Liberated’s revenue increased from $350 million in 2021 to $422 million in 2022, a jump the company attributed to a sharp increase in demand during the Covid-19 pandemic and acquisition of more brand licenses. About half of the company’s income came through retail sales on brand websites and physical stores and selling apparel wholesale to other retailers, according to court documents.
The business expanded in 2023 when Liberated started running several more Authentic-acquired apparel brands, including Billabong, Quiksilver, Roxy, and RVCA. But Liberated CEO Todd Hymel said in a court filing that the company’s fortunes changed as the effects of the pandemic abated and interest rates began to rise, resulting in lower demand for its offerings.
Company management believed the trend would diminish last year but in the past 18 months “the average consumer has shifted their spending away from discretionary products such as those offered by Liberated,” Hymel said. The business was also hurt by a shift to large “fast-fashion” retailers that can sell garments at lower prices and capitalize on so-called micro-trends as opposed to the traditional seasonal retail model, he said.
“Consumers can cheaply, quickly, and easily order low-quality clothing garments from fast fashion powerhouses and have such goods delivered within days,” he said.
Authentic in December terminated Liberated’s North America license for the wholesale businesses of Volcom, RVCA and Billabong after the company failed to make a royalty payment, according to court documents. The license rights to those brands were subsequently transitioned to new operators, Hymel said.
The case is Liberated Brands LLC, number 25-10168, in the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.
Trouva has suspended trading as the online fashion marketplace’s owner searches for a buyer. Project J has hired accountancy firm RSM to find the platform’s fifth owner in less than three years.
The online marketplace offers a platform for independent stores and boutiques that don’t have an online retail presence.
A source close to the company told Sky News, which broke the story, that it had taken the decision to pause orders and sales during the search for a new owner in order “to protect customers and sellers”.
Project J, itself a home and living marketplace, acquired the business last year. It said its wider business would be unaffected by the proposed sale process.
Jonathan Thomson, co-founder of Project J, added: “This has been an incredibly difficult decision, but we have decided to focus our efforts on building the Fy! brand and explore the options for a sale of Trouva.”
He added: “By exploring a potential sale, we are creating an opportunity for Trouva to continue its journey. We believe this is in the best interests of the business, boutiques and the team.”
Most recent previous Trouva owners have included Re:store in 2023, and Made.com which bought the business in spring 2022.
Launched in 2015, Trouva claims relationships with over 700 boutiques across Europe.
Serge Brunschwig has departed LVMH, the cerebral and affable executive has revealed. He made the announcement this weekend on his LinkedIn account, with a posting that began: “ Farewell hashtag#LVMH.”
In a three-decade career with LVMH, the French-born Brunschwig had ended as CEO of Fendi for six years until being succeeded by Pierre-Emmanuel Angeloglou in June 2024. At the time, LVMH spokespeople explained he was “pursuing another mission in the group.”
In an impressive career, Brunschwig had previously spent almost a decade at Christian Dior, ending as president of Dior Homme. Prior to that, he had been CEO of Celine, joining from Louis Vuitton, where he was director general for nearly four years. That came after two years as CEO of yet another LVMH company, Sephora.
“Always the unexpected since 1854. This is Louis Vuitton’s promise, leader of a luxury industry driven by this goal, as reveals its Latin etymology “luxus”: luxation, extravagance… This is the world I was fortunate to enter when meeting Bernard Arnault (LVMH CEO) as a consultant in 1992 to help him restructure champagne division, following (the) first Gulf War crisis,” wrote Brunschwig in his posting.
“These almost thirty years have been an extraordinary journey through LVMH treasures: Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Fendi, Sephora, Celine. A series of exceptional encounters with people with spark in their eyes, passion for their maison, starting with artisans and sales associates. An apprenticeship of infinite exigence: the main enemy of every brand and every manager is success. Managing crisis is basic, managing success, ego, hubris,” added Brunschwig, a 1984 graduate of elite Paris college Science Po, who then cut his management teeth at McKinsey & Company.
His posting was greeted with scores of compliments by fellow contacts and professionals.
“I want to thank all my collaborators in every Maison and all my bosses through all these years : late Yves Carcelle, Sidney Toledano, Toni Belloni, Pierre Letzelter, Pierre-Yves Roussel. And, of course, Bernard Arnault for his ever-demanding trust,” he concluded, without revealing any future career position.
ASOS, which is deep in turnaround mode, has been given a boost as credit insurers reinstate cover for the digital fashion giant. Two leading credit insurers — Atradius and Coface — are again offering cover for its clothing suppliers, signalling renewed confidence in the business’s financial stability.
ASOS’s cover, which exists to protect suppliers from buyers and ensures the former will be paid, even if the latter goes under, was withdrawn it in 2023 amid concerns over the fashion retailer’s falling profits, The Times reported.
As a further boost, another credit insurer, Cartan Trade, has also opened up cover for the first time, which could further improve its cash flow situation. Allianz Trade is understood to be the only company left to reinstate cover after it withdrew it entirely two years ago.
The positive moves support the retailer’s turnaround plan that CEO José Antonio Ramos Calamonte says is beginning to gain traction. Calamonte is focusing on reducing inventory levels, cutting discounts, and implementing a test-and-react model.
He said in November that the “medicinal” actions taken over the past two years were finally beginning “to bear fruit”.
At the beginning of ASOS’s turnaround plan, its stock levels had doubled to more than £1 billion, largely owing to Covid-related disruptions and poor commercial practices. Over the past two years, ASOS has halved stock levels to £520 million.
In a further boost to its balance sheet, the retailer announced a £250 million bond refinancing last summer.
The fashion retailer has also seen an improvement in its shares and is scheduled to rejoin the FTSE 250 share index today (3 February) after a 15% rise in its shares over the past year. The company was axed from the index in 2023 when its share price plunged.
Its market valuation, which stood at £6 billion in 2018, now stands at £523 million and the shares remain down by 85% over the past five years.
Meanwhile, ASOS is expected to make its first move into physical retail this year. The Times said the retailer has been mulling a store on London’s Carnaby Street, which could house a large number of its brands.