Rivers stores to shut in April after failed hunt for buyer

Clothing and footwear brand Rivers will close all 136 stores across the country by mid-April, resulting in 650 job losses after the receivers and managers for parent company Mosaic Brands failed to find a buyer.

The closure makes Rivers the seventh brand in the Mosaic group to be axed, following Rockmans, Autograph, Crossroads, W. Lane and BeMe in late September, and Katies in December.

Mosaic’s receivers have not been able to find a buyer for clothing and footwear brand Rivers.Credit: Ken Irwin

Mosaic’s receivers and managers are KPMG partners David Hardy, Gayle Dickerson, Ryan Eagle and Amanda Coneyworth, who are still attempting to find a buyer for Mosaic’s two remaining brands, Millers and Noni B, from an original stable of nine brands.

KPMG turnaround and restructuring partner Hardy thanked Mosaic and Rivers staff for working tirelessly over the past few months.

“Unfortunately, a sale of Rivers was not able to be achieved. This means the receivers have made the difficult decision to wind down this iconic Australian brand,” Hardy said in a statement.

Rivers stores will close at varying times based on stock levels, and the brand will hold sales and promotions to clear stock.

Mosaic Brands fell into administration in late October with debts of at least $249 million, a month after chief executive Erica Berchtold axed Rockmans, Autograph, Crossroads, W. Lane and BeMe.

The collapse came after a proposed restructuring of the company was blocked by a “small number” of parties, including its senior secured lender.

The company allegedly did not have directors and officers insurance, this masthead reported last year, citing two sources who could not be identified for confidentiality reasons.

Former suppliers also came forward to this masthead to detail millions of dollars owed, where Mosaic sold products in-store and banked the proceeds without paying for them.

Berchtold attempted to enter negotiations with Mosaic’s global suppliers by asking them to accept terms where they would be paid as little as one-third of what they were owed.

At least 11 Bangladeshi suppliers were understood to be owed around $US15 million ($23.9 million), this masthead reported last year.

“There’s going to be factories that are going to be shutting down,” said Omar Chowdhury, managing director of Bangladeshi garment manufacturer Hydroxide Knitwear. “It’s very distressing. There are some people on the verge of suicide.”

The store footprint of Mosaic’s remaining two brands shrank after KPMG receivers culled 80 additional stores across Millers, Rivers and Noni B brands when it announced it was shuttering the Katies brand in December.

Katies had been one of the “core brands” Mosaic had hoped would become a future focus of the company following the appointment of administrators, which they believed would also help to “right-size the store network to ensure the ongoing success of the business”.

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