Clothing store Viyella became the latest long-standing British retailer to succumb to dire retailing conditions and file for bankruptcy protection on Wednesday.
The owners of Viyella, which was founded in 1784 and gave the world the first branded cloth, said they had reluctantly decided to place the business into administration “following an assessment of the current economic situation and the prospects for the future.”
Viyella employs around 500 people across Britain, having branched out in recent years from womenswear to also sell menswear, houseware and cosmetics.
“We believe there will be a strong interest in the Viyella brand and hope the joint administrators will be able to conclude an early sale which protects the brand name and many of the jobs within the business,” investment group Harris Watson said in a statement.
Viyella joins other historic British companies — including general retailer Woolworths, tea and coffee merchant Whittard, queen’s tailor Hardy Amies and classic china manufacturers Waterford Wedgwood and Royal Worcester & Spode — in filing for bankruptcy protection.
Under the administration process, independent operators are appointed to run the company to return funds to creditors, which can result in a sale or breakup of the business.
“We should like to express our thanks to all the Viyella team for the hard work they have put into the business,” Harris Watson said. “Unfortunately the current economic downturn has undone all the efforts of the last five years.”
Viyella has its origins in the decision by Henry Hollins to open a cotton spinning mill at Pleasley, central England, to take advantage of the Industrial Revolution’s fledgling textile industry.
By the mid 1840s, Hollins & Co was using steam-driven machinery and in 1851 it showed off its cashmere, silk, cotton and fine merino wools at the Great Exhibition in London.
In 1891, the company developed a new cloth — 55 percent merino wool and 45 percent long staple cotton — that it registered under the name Viyella three years later, giving the world its first branded cloth and the company a new name.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2