Ed Harry has fallen into administration, putting 108 SA jobs at risk

More than 100 South Australian retail jobs are at risk with menswear chain Ed Harry collapsing following a poor Christmas sales period.

Ed Harry has fallen into administration.

More than 100 South Australian retail jobs are at risk with menswear chain Ed Harry collapsing following a poor Christmas sales period.

The retailer, which has its head office in Hindmarsh, operates 87 stores nationally including 14 in South Australia.

Accounting firm KPMG has been appointed voluntary administrator, and will immediately oversee a clearance sale of existing merchandise.

Stores will trade as normal as administrators explore “all possible options”, including the potential sale of the business.

The company’s failure puts at risk 108 retail and head office jobs in South Australia and 498 jobs nationally.

The menswear chain was founded in 1993 and fell into voluntary administration in early 2011 with a network of 130 stores. It was bought and relaunched later that year by Specialty Men’s Apparel.

Specialty Men’s Apparel managing director David Clark said attempts to attract new sources of funding to revive and grow the chain had failed.

“Competition both in local bricks and mortar and online has been fierce in our sector for some time now,” Mr Clark said.

“The directors had been exploring options for funding to enable Ed Harry to continue to compete and grow, however to this point have been unsuccessful. Today is a difficult day for all our hardworking employees and loyal customers.”

KPMG partner Brendan Richards said a poor Christmas trading period had been the final straw for Ed Harry.

“Like many other Australian retailers, after a strong period of growth, it has faced a challenging environment over the past 12 months — and a particularly tough Christmas sales period,” Mr Richards said.

“It has also become clear that shopping centre footfall has been significantly weaker than expected.”

KPMG said gift cards would be honoured for one month on a dollar-for-dollar basis. The first meeting of creditors will be held in Adelaide on January 24.