Dion Lee is having its moment of crisis — the trick is going to be coming out of the other side stronger.
The designer’s business in Australia has been put into voluntary administration — the equivalent of bankruptcy in the U.S. — and is being overseen by dVT Group during the process.
In its favor, the brand is regularly seen on the backs of celebrities like Dua Lipa and Cher, has an international business not touched by the process and a chief executive officer in James Miller who is used to a little chaos.
Miller became CEO of the brand in December. And while he came with plans to add stores and expand on the still-new accessories and footwear businesses, he has experience running designer businesses in trouble, having shepherded The Collected Group’s Equipment, Joie and Current/Elliott brands through a pandemic bankruptcy.
When he took the gig, Miller told WWD that Dion Lee was well positioned. “We don’t need to operate against the headwinds of the market,” he said. “We don’t need to overextend ourselves.”
The Australian piece of the business was majority owned by Cue Clothing Co., which withdrew from its partnership with the brand, setting off the administration process.
For now, Dion Lee is operating on two tracks, with the Australian business, which has six stores, in administration, and the international business and its 160 wholesale doors and its store in Miami unaffected.
“We are in the very early stages of our administration process and our focus right now is on speaking with the Australian and U.S.-based team and getting across all the relevant operational and financial data,” said administrator Antony Resnick in a statement.
Would-be buyers are already said to be looking at the business, setting up a potential sale, which Resnick alluded to.
“The Dion Lee brand has built global recognition and credibility in the world of high fashion,” Resnick said. “It is regularly worn by cultural icons and influencers. It is noted in the industry for its unique designs, all of which should attract both local and international investor interest.”
Lee started the business in 2009 and has steadily built a following with subversive, sexy looks.
When the designer showed his spring 2024 collection in New York last September, he told WWD he was “playing around with tool shed corsetry.”
“I’m quite rough when I like to pin things, cut things up and collage them together,” he said. “It was a cut-and-paste of a lot of ideas that I’ve kind of been working into over my whole career.”
The brand skipped New York for the fall shows in February in favor of showing in Shanghai.
It’s been a tough time for designer businesses generally, which have been contending with cautious retail buyers and an ever-fickle consumer who now is being squeezed by inflation.
London-based label The Vampire’s Wife recently moved to shut down its operations, citing “the upheaval in the wholesale market.”
