Retail veterans Solomon Lew and Mark McInnes have unleashed their strongest attack yet on landlords, accusing them of "killing" Australian companies such as fast fashion chain Bardot by charging them higher rents than global retailers.

"Landlords have incentivised international retailers, they've diluted the market and killed companies," said Mr McInnes, the chief executive of Premier Investments, which owns Smiggle, Peter Alexander, Just Jeans, Dotti and Portmans.