Leather retailer Mon Purse collapses into liquidation

After a string of retail collapses this year, another Australian company has gone bust amid the COVID-19 economic recession.

Luxury fashion retailer Mon Purse that got off the ground as a Sydney-based start-up in 2014 is the latest brand to fall victim to 2020’s retail blows.

The Australian retailer, founded by entrepreneur and former News Corp advertising sales executive Lana Hopkins, has collapsed on the back of COVID-19 supply issues which led to customers waiting weeks for their purchases.

Customers took to the brand’s Facebook page to complain about orders not being delivered, but the business has failed to update its social media accounts since mid-October.

The retailer hasn’t communicated with customers since it offered a 40 per cent discount storewide to its email subscribers in October.

Mon Purse co-founder Lana Hopkins left the company in 2018. Picture: John Appleyard

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The business ceased trading this week after liquidators from Wexted Advisors were appointed on December 11.

According to the Mon Purse website, its online store is undergoing “scheduled maintenance” while its made-to-order range is “temporarily unavailable due to the current effects of COVID-19”.

The European-made products had a bespoke point of difference in the luxury fashion market.

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Mon Purse had attracted significant media coverage in its hey-day which led to international deals with British and US fashion houses Bloomingdale’s and Selfridges.

The brand had multiple concessions in Myer along with boutique stores after starting in Sydney’s Paddington.

Ms Hopkins said she was ‘extremely disappointed’ to see the collapse of her former business. Picture: AAP Image / Dan Himbrechts

By 2016, Mon Purse had turned over more than $1 million in the space of just three months.

Ms Hopkins, who resigned from the company in 2018 over differences in opinion with other management, told The Sydney Morning Herald she was saddened and “extremely disappointed” to see the collapse of her former business.

Mon Purse enabled buyers to design and monogram their own leather bags and accessories.

The business was left to its sole director, former chief operating officer Andrew Shub.

The Aussie start-up had attracted significant financial backing worth millions from a number of high-net-worth investors including Rich Listers.

The business had attracted significant media coverage and high-net-worth investors.

Investors in the business included property investor Robert Magid, Catch founder Gabby Leibovich, Airtasker co-founder Jonathan Lui, Mad Paws chief executive Justus Hammer and former Deloitte partner Ian Levi.

The European-made products had a bespoke point of difference in the luxury fashion market, enabling buyers to design and monogram their own leather bags and accessories.