Designer brand Orla Kiely – worn by the likes of Kate Middleton and Alexa Chung – has ceased trading.
Workers said they were escorted out of the building earlier this week just moments after being told by CEO Orla Kiely, 55, they were being made redundant.
This morning the Irish designer announced she has closed both her online and retail businesses in Kildare and London with immediate effect.
The £8million brand with its distinctive floral-based fashion has become a middle-class favourite since she set it up in 1995 with her husband Dermott.
Irish designer Orla Kiely (pictured) has announced she has closed both her online and retail businesses in Kildare and London with immediate effect
Kate Middleton and her sister Pippa pictured wearing Orla Kiely outfits. Kate is visiting a the National Portrait Gallery this year and Pippa is at the Wimbledon tennis in 2012
A small selection of accessories and homeware will continue to be sold through department stores like Debenhams and John Lewis.
The Orla Kiely stores in London – in King’s Road, Chelsea, and in Monmouth Street, Covent Garden – are closing along with the retail outlet in Kildare, Ireland. The brand also had a store in New York City.
A source said at the company said: ‘It wasn’t sent out in an official email or anything but was spread through word of mouth.
‘Around lunchtime we were all called together where the CEO told us we were all out of a job.
‘We’re paid on the 27th of each month and we were told the company can’t pay us for the past three weeks and we’d have to try and file for redundancy.
‘Some people just burst straight into tears.
‘Chief designers just grabbed their bags and walked straight out without saying anything. We were then escorted out of the building.
‘None of us saw this coming. They closed off the website the other week and said there was an issue with the payment gateway. But they must have known what was going on.
‘Now I’m struggling to find the money to pay the rent. People were just crying in the pub. It’s devastating.’
A statement on Orla Kiely’s website said the company had ceased trading and its stores closed
Kate, Pippa and Carole Middleton have all been spotted wearing the designer brand’s outfits.
In a statement provided to the Irish Times the company said: ‘Having carefully considered the options, the directors of Kiely Rowan Plc have concluded that the business should enter voluntary liquidation following various challenges that have faced the company over the past few years, both in the UK and abroad.’
A message on its website reads: ‘Kiely Rowan Plc, the retail and wholesale fashion business of Orla Kiely, has ceased trading as of Monday 17 September 2018.
‘This means our retail stores in London and Kildare and our online business have been closed.
‘We apologise for any inconvenience caused. Orla Kiely’s Home and Design licensing business will not be impacted, and its selection of accessories and homewares will continue to be sold through its distribution partners.
‘Thank you for embracing our brand and designs throughout the years and for your ongoing support. Orla, Dermott and the Team.’
One shopper wrote on Twitter: ‘Orla Kiely going into administration has ruined my Wednesday’.
Author Melissa Hill said: ‘Got a present of one of her baby-changing bags back in the day, so fond associations. V sad to see iconic Irish designer go under.’
Orla Kiely and husband Dermott Rowan, with whom she founded the brand, pictured in 2014
The Orla Kiely stores in London (left: Covent Garden; right: King’s Road, Chelsea)
Left: Carole Middleton wears a blue printed Orla Kiely dress as she visits the newborn Prince George in 2013. Right: Sarah Jessica Parker in one of the brand’s dresses in January this year
How Irish designer Orla Kiely built the brand she founded with her husband into a household name
Orla Kiely’s colourful prints have appeared on clothes, bicycles, equipment, bedding and even on the side of a bus since the brand was founded in 1995.
Earlier this year she said she started the company while she was caring for her newborn son, Robert.
She described how she would sit with him at the kitchen table while she designed pieces for her fashion brand.
In the 23 years since the company grew to be sold in 33 countries, with 56 employees and a turnover of more than £8 million.
Orla Kiely, pictured in 2014, said she started the company while she was caring for her newborn son, Robert
The designer has collaborated with Heal’s, the Tate and Harrods and her fashion brand has become a favourite among royals.
Kate Middleton has been seen wearing the label’s dresses on several occasions, for example in February this year when she wore a floral outfit to London’s National Portrait Gallery.
Her sister Pippa has also used the brand, wearing a Kiely cardigan when she watched tennis at Wimbledon with her brother, while Carole Middleton wore a blue printer Orla Kiely dress when she went to visit the newborn Prince George in 2013.
Ms Kiely and her husband Dermott Rowan, 60, who started the business from a first-floor flat in London, remained its directors.
The company, which Irish designer Orla Kiely founded with her husband Dermott, was known for its colourful floral pieces (pictures posed by models)
A selection of Orla Kiely-designed items including handbags and cushions seen in London
Radios and garden chairs were among the items to feature an Orla Kiely floral design
Mr Rowan helped to run the financial side of the business while Ms Kiely focused on designing, she said.
She would approve designs herself with her handwritten word ‘approved’ written on numerous drawings at a recent exhibition.
Describing her personal style she said that ‘colour and pattern are at the heart of everything’.
After taking a degree in print for fashion, she took an MA in knitwear at the Royal College of Art and later worked as a consultant with Marks & Spencer
In 2010, she featured on an Irish postage stamp, and in 2011 she was awarded an OBE.
The Duchess of Cambridge wearing Orla Kiely dresses – left in 2012 on a visit to the Dulwich Picture Gallery in London and right at a Charities Forum event in 2017
An Orla Kiely pair of blue and gold high heels, produced in collaboration with Clarks
Orla Kiely views some of her fashion items during New York Fashion Week in September 2016
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