Major clothing retailer loved by Kate Middleton collapses into administration and website is shut down

The Irish Sun

a day ago

A MAJOR clothing retailer beloved by Kate Middleton had crashed into administration.
Seraphine, the maternity fashion retailer beloved by the Princess of Wales, has stopped trading leaving the "majority" of its 95 staff redundant.
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Seraphine became a household name after Kate Middleton wore its designs during her three pregnancies
Credit: Getty
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But the retailer, founded in London in 2002, was hit hard by 'rising costs and brittle consumer confidence', according to its administrators
Credit: Getty
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Cécile Reinaud, who founded the company but left in 2021, has been critical of the direction it took after her departure
Credit: Richard Pohle
Known for its stylish maternity wear, Seraphine became a household name after Kate Middleton wore its designs during her three pregnancies.
The brand's popularity soared, with items selling out after she was spotted in them.
At its peak, Seraphine had 10 stores around the world, including in New York, Hong Kong, Dubai, and Paris.
However, consultancy firm Interpath confirmed on Monday that it had been appointed as administrators for the company.
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The retailer, founded in London in 2002, was hit hard by "rising costs and brittle consumer confidence," according to Will Wright, UK chief executive of Interpath.
He said these economic challenges had proved "too challenging to overcome."
Seraphine's flagship store on Kensington High Street and its online shop are now closed, with its website previously offering discounts of up to 60% before becoming inaccessible to shoppers.
The retailer's goods were also stocked in well-known outlets like John Lewis and Next.
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The company had been struggling financially for some time. After listing on the London Stock Exchange in 2021 with a valuation of £150m, Seraphine was taken back into private ownership in 2023 when its value had fallen to just £15.3million.
Despite a relaunch in April focusing on "form, function and fit," the brand was unable to recover.
Popular retailer to RETURN 13 years after collapsing into administration and shutting 236 stores
Interpath says it is now exploring options for the business, including selling its assets and the Seraphine brand.
If no buyer is found, the company will be shut down entirely, and its saleable assets liquidated.
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Cécile Reinaud, who founded the company but left in 2021, has been critical of the direction it took after her departure.
She recently opposed the loss of Seraphine's "unique British heritage" and its signature regal purple branding, which were replaced with a Scandinavian-inspired aesthetic.
She said: "My original vision was to create clothes you'd want to wear even if you weren't pregnant.
What does it mean when a company goes into administration?
ADMINISTRATION is when all control of a company is passed to an appointed to a licensed insolvency practitioner.
It doesn't necessarily mean the end of the business.
Instead, administrators will try to help a company find ways to repay debts or solve its cashflow problems.
Administration can last anywhere from a few weeks to up to a year or more.
But if the administration process can't rescue the company or find a new owner, this can lead to liquidation.
Liquidation is the process of selling all assets and then dissolving the company completely.
"That guiding principle seems to have vanished now."
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Despite its struggles, Seraphine was once a darling of the high street, dressing celebrities like Anne Hathaway,
The Princess of Wales even wore the brand for the first official family portrait after Prince George's birth.
Staff who lost their jobs because of the company's closure will be helped to make claims for redundancy payments, Interpath said.
What are my rights if I'm made redundant?
YOU are entitled to statutory redundancy pay if you have worked for your employer for two years or more.
The statutory rate is based on your age, weekly pay and number of years in the job.
You will get:
Half a week's pay for each full year you worked aged under 22
One week's pay for each full year you worked aged 22 or older, but under 41
One and half week's pay for each full year you worked while aged 41 or older.
You cannot be paid less than the statutory amount.
If you were made redundant on or after April 6 2025, your weekly pay is capped at £719 and the maximum statutory redundancy pay you can get is £21,570.
The government has a
You may get more than this statutory amount if your employer has a redundancy scheme.
Customers are unlikely to receive their orders unless they've already been shipped.
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However, certain card protections will grant you the power to get a refund.
If you paid via finance, then you must contact the provider directly.
If you've paid for an order via a
credit card
, you should contact your provider and claim the deposit under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974.
To make a valid claim the goods or service you bought must have cost over £100 and not more than £30,000.
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It means that if you pay for a big purchase on your credit card and something happens - like the goods aren't delivered or the shop goes bust - your card provider is just as responsible as the retailer for refunding you.
Section 75 also applies to goods bought in-store, online, over the phone or mail order.
To make a claim, contact your credit card provider - your first port of call should be its customer services phone number - and tell them you want to make a claim under Section 75.
It should then send you a claim form, which you can fill in, and your provider will use to process your application.
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You cannot make a Section 75 claim if you paid by debit card.
However, these customers have another means to request a refund.
Chargeback is a consumer protection mechanism that allows individuals to request a refund from their bank or card issuer if they encounter issues with a purchase made using a credit or debit card.
While chargeback is not a legal right in the UK, it is part of the voluntary schemes run by card networks like Visa, Mastercard, and American Express, and is widely supported by banks and financial institutions.
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Here, your bank will try to get your money back from Seraphine's bank.
You typically have 120 days from the date of the transaction to submit a claim.
Usually, it's just a phone call where you tell the card firm what happened and ask it to do a chargeback.
Once you've spoken to your bank you'll need to provide the full details of your transaction with Carpetright.
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Some banks will ask you to fill out a claim form.
The chain's administrators haven't confirmed how to claim cash refunds yet.
Why is the retail sector struggling?
The retail sector has struggled in recent years due to the onset of online shopping and lockdowns during the coronavirus pandemic.
Higher inflation since 2022 has also hit shoppers' budgets while businesses have struggled with higher wage, tax and energy costs.
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Last month, Polish owner Pepco Group sold Poundland to US investment firm Gordon Brothers for £1 after a downturn in trading.
The new owners are now asking the court for permission to close 68 stores and negotiate lower rents on others, with up to 82 more stores potentially shutting in the future.
Both Hobbycraft and The Original Factory Shop are also shutting branches as part of restructuring efforts.
Higher inflation since 2022 has also hit shoppers' budgets while businesses have struggled with higher wage, tax and energy costs.
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The Centre for Retail Research has described the sector as going through a "permacrisis" since the 2008 financial crash.
Figures from the Centre also show 34 retail companies operating multiple stores stopped trading in 2024, leading to the closure of 7,537 shops.
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The British Retail Consortium predicted that the Treasury's hike to employer NICs will cost the retail sector £2.3billion.
Research by the British Chambers of Commerce showed that more than half of companies planned to raise prices by early April.
A survey of more than 4,800 firms also found that 55% expect prices to increase in the next three months, up from 39% in a similar poll conducted in the latter half of 2024.
Three-quarters of companies cited the cost of employing people as their primary financial pressure.
The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has also warned that around 17,350 retail sites are expected to shut down this year.
It comes on the back of a tough 2024 when 13,000 shops closed their doors for good, already a 28% increase on the previous year.
Professor Joshua Bamfield, director of the CRR said: "The results for 2024 show that although the outcomes for store closures overall were not as poor as in either 2020 or 2022, they are still disconcerting, with worse set to come in 2025."
Professor Bamfield has also warned of a bleak outlook for 2025, predicting that as many as 202,000 jobs could be lost in the sector.
"By increasing both the costs of running stores and the costs on each consumer's household it is highly likely that we will see retail job losses eclipse the height of the pandemic in 2020.