German womenswear chain Liberty Fashion files for self-administered insolvency

Liberty Fashion Holding GmbH, the German womenswear retailer that trades as Liberty Women, has filed for the opening of self-administered insolvency proceedings, FashionUnited reported, citing the trade title Textilwirtschaft.

The competent district court in Bielefeld granted the application. The court appointed Hans-Joachim Berner, a partner at the restructuring firm KösterBerner Sanierungsrecht, as provisional insolvency monitor. FashionUnited said the Lübbecke-based company had not responded to a request for comment.

Stores stay open

According to the company’s website as cited by FashionUnited, Liberty Women has 116 locations in Germany and Austria, including two outlets, and also sells online. Textilwirtschaft put current employment at about 600 people. The business plans to keep operating during the proceedings: all stores are to remain open, and cooperation with suppliers is to continue within legal limits. Staff are due insolvency pay (Insolvenzgeld) from Germany’s Federal Employment Agency for the next three months.

Managing director Oliver Lübbenjans is being supported by the law firm BBORS Kreuznacht. The aim, Textilwirtschaft reported, is to strengthen the Liberty Women boutique concept and the mix of physical stores and e-commerce by reviewing the store network, costs and operations, as well as sales, buying, inventory and marketing.

Why the chain says it ran into trouble

The company attributed its difficulties to a hard fashion-retail climate, falling store traffic and “seasonally, primarily weather-related currently below-average demand for autumn and winter fashion,” according to Textilwirtschaft.

Behind the group is investor Peter Wolf, a former Karstadt executive who became sole shareholder in February 2022 after buying out then-CEO Peter Friedrich and the investment firm Arcadia.