Mystery surrounds future of NZ fashion company

By IRENE CHAPPLE and PAUL PANCKHURST


The future of fashion designer Nicholas Blanchet's company looks uncertain.

Negotiations with a new investor have collapsed, two premises are closed, and Blanchet is not returning calls.

Blanchet is a prominent New Zealand designer who has starred in events such as L'Oreal Fashion Week.

The Nicholas Blanchet workshop in Pitt St, Auckland, is shut.

A sign on the door says it is closed for a stocktake on November 28.

A staff member referred questions to Blanchet, who did not return calls.

At the Chancery retail outlet, opened in September 2001 as a "flagship store", the windows are papered over and a sign says it is being refurbished.

Ian Ormond, a former director of textiles business Ormond Taylor, said yesterday that he had been invited to look into investing in Blanchet Limited, but pulled out after due diligence.

Ormond would not say when he decided against investing, but indicated that due diligence had been completed in the past two months.

Industry sources said Ormond pulled out in the past few days.

Blanchet's negotiations with Ormond collapsed soon after his long-term investor, Jude Riddell, cut her ties with the company.

Blanchet is now the only listed director and shareholder.

Blanchet appears to have entered a stocking agreement with Gregory, a retail chain run by a company called Suzanne Gregory.

Ormond is a director of Suzanne Gregory but said there was no connection between his potential investment and the decision to stock the brand.

Ormond said stocking the brand "was now a moot point on several levels, as is any supply arrangement ... as far as we are concerned [Nicholas Blanchet] is an excellent brand".

Riddell, who has been a financial backer of Blanchet Limited since 1996, resigned her directorship in February and sold her shareholding four weeks ago.

Riddell owns the Wellington store which continues to operate under the Nicholas Blanchet brand.

Riddell said she was no longer investing in Blanchet Limited because she wanted to concentrate on her retail outlets.

The company had also grown too quickly and needed too much capital.

She knew Blanchet had been in negotiations with Ormond, but did not know the discussions had ended.

Riddell said there were "financial issues" between her and Blanchet Limited, and the collapse of negotiations with Ormond would "probably be a huge issue."

She would have to discuss the effect on her business with her lawyers, but her store would be stocking this season's Nicholas Blanchet brand.

A number of companies, including the National Bank, have registered charges over Blanchet Limited.

One creditor was receiving weekly $500 payments from Blanchet for an overdue debt. Those payments reportedly stopped on November 13.

Other designers said the difficulties Blanchet was facing showed the fickle nature of the fashion industry.

But the brand was strong and would have a high value.

At Fashion Week this year the Christchurch-born designer incorporated No 8 wire into his designs.

Blanchet began his business in Dunedin 1994, and is described on his website as having designs with a "strong conceptual base".