Christopher Kane entering into administration casts worries for the future of young British designers
The 40-year-old Scottish designer Christopher Kane and his eponymous company have gone into administration following a notice of intention to appoint FTS Recovery as administrator. “This difficult decision has been reached to give the company sufficient time to implement a rescue plan. Key stakeholders have been notified,” says a statement given to WWD. “A period of accelerated marketing activity will now follow, with a view to locating potential interested parties to either refinance the company’s existing debt, or alternatively locate a purchaser for the business and assets.” So, following the news that Kane will begin to “wind-down operations”, the plea to find investors continues.
Kane graduated from the London fashion college Central Saint Martin’s in 2006, launching his label in the same year, and cementing his name as a mainstay of quintessential British fashion. His designs include flowing crystal gowns, highly technical and structural garments, jelly bags, and seamless runway shows. Many have commended Kane on his influence on young British designers, and for paving the way for new and exciting design at the helm of the country’s creativity. He began to dress stars like Shailene Woodley, FKA Twigs, Michelle Obama, and Lena Dunham almost immediately from the get-go, going on to repeatedly dress Alexa Chung, Dua Lipa, and even the Princess of Wales.
Partly thanks to the pandemic, it has been a while since Kane presented a physical show with his garments. In 2020, the company closed its doors to its London store and was forced to lay off a significant portion of its staff. That was until he stepped back onto the runway at LFW with a grand presentation at London’s Camden Roundhouse for his SS22 collection. The star-studded event presented a glimmer of hope for the brand, with AW23 following in its promising footsteps. Even Anna Wintour gave her praises by clapping at the end of the show.
Behind the scenes, however, was a completely different story. The past decade saw the company face a plethora of financial challenges. Kering (who owns brands like Yves Saint Laurent, Gucci, and Alexander McQueen) bought a 51% stake in the company but sold the chunk back to the founder in 2018. Shortly after, Kane launched a second line called More Joy – which focused on basics like T-shirts, beanies, and blankets with the company slogan plastered across them. This kept the business afloat in the harder times, with sales quadrupling that year and making up over half the purchases on the site.
It seems even the most innovative of designers aren’t privy to the country’s current financial situation and this news of Kane’s label simply spotlights the country’s faults in championing young designers but failing to support them when it comes to long-term strategies. The bigger labels like Stella McCartney and Vivienne Westwood have even moved their fashion week presentations to the other side of the pond in Paris, but that just isn’t possible for some of the smaller brands on our home turf. This collapse of a successful young brand doesn’t exactly lay the groundwork for more emerging designers to risk for a reward, prompting us to ask what is actually going to happen in the future of British fashion. Will we stick with our heritage brands? Or will the industry find a way to repair what has already been lost so far? Hope feels lacking, to say the least when it comes to our new UK burgeoning fashion talents.
