LONDON – British label The Vampire’s Wife, a fashion brand known for its flowing sharp-shouldered dresses and Gothic charm, said Tuesday that it will cease trading immediately due to “the upheaval in the wholesale market,” which has had dramatic implications for the brand.
“After ten years as the creative director of The Vampire’s Wife, it is time for me to say goodbye,” wrote brand founder Susie Cave, a former model and the wife of musician Nick Cave, in an Instagram post.
“I say this with great sadness and want to express my undying gratitude to you all for your support. I wish to thank my extended family at The Vampire’s Wife who helped me create such beautiful things. I cannot describe how much you have all meant to me,” she added.
In a separate statement, the brand expressed gratitude to its clients, partners, and people who have worn the designs over the last ten years. A final, physical sale will take place at The Music Room in Mayfair, London, from Friday to Sunday, May 24-26, allowing people one last opportunity to buy.
The Vampire’s Wife launched in 2015 and was an immediate hit, wooing customers with its lavish fabrics, romantic prints, and signature ruffles.
It started as a fashion insiders’ secret and was favored by British fashion editors, models, and friends of Cave. It later became a global retail hit, with stockists including Matchesfashion, Browns, and Dover Street Market.
It was also among a cohort of London-based labels including La Perla, Christopher Kane, Julien Macdonald, and Roksanda, that struggled to navigate the retail and wholesale landscape post-pandemic.
Many were saddled with tax bills, rent payments, and other debts incurred during lockdown when physical stores were forced to close. The crisis in online retail, with the distress sale of Farfetch to Coupang and the closure of Matches has only made business more difficult for small, independent brands here.
As reported last summer, The Vampire’s Wife was hit with a winding-up order from the U.K. Revenue and Customs due to outstanding debt that had “built up as a consequence of lockdown strategies to tackle the pandemic.”
A winding-up order is issued when a British court decides that a company cannot pay its debts.
The brand was later able to raise fresh funds from existing investors to pay the money it owed to U.K. Revenue and Customs.
The Vampire’s Wife did not specify the exact cause of the closure, but it’s likely that the collapse of Matches was a contributing factor.
Matches was placed into administration earlier this year, and the stock is being sold at deep discounts to clear the warehouses. Items from The Vampire’s Wife are being sold with a 40 percent to 80 percent discount.
Thousands of brands have been unable to recoup outstanding payments and warehouse stock due to contractual agreements they had with the retailer, although it is unclear whether The Vampire’s Wife is one of them.
A tough wholesale period is impacting brands around the globe.
Chinese designer Calvin Luo, who has presented collections in New York, Paris, and Shanghai, last week announced that he will put his namesake label founded a decade ago on hold from the first quarter of 2025.
Over the weekend, the American designer Mara Hoffman said she has decided to take a pause, and the spring 2024 collection will be the company’s last offering for the time being, after 24 years in business.
Earlier this month, designer Roksanda Ilincic found a white knight in The Brand Group, TBG, which purchased the fashion label she founded in 2005.
As reported, before partnering with TBG, Ilincic had filed a notice of intent to appoint an administrator. Ilincic described TBG as a “valued partner at a time when Roksanda had been exploring new ways of operating in the existing luxury climate.”
