Yahoo Lifestyle Lisa Ho Making A Comeback
Lisa Ho.
Fashion designer Lisa Ho looks set to revive her fallen brand, with news breaking this morning that Myer may strike a deal to stock the designer’s wares.
Myer CEO Bernie Brookes said the department store had not signed any contracts with the designer, but that they were in final negotiations.
“If a deal is done it would be Lisa’s brand signature, design and sign-off using our infrastructure,” said Brookes. “Fingers crossed.”
In June last year, things looked dire for Ho as she announced the closure of her namesake label.
Citing financial difficulties that amounted to $11 million of debt, Ho was forced to close her boutiques after the sale of the business to interested buyers, including Myer and the Apparel Group, stalled.
“Despite considerable interest, a sale of the Lisa Ho Group business as a going concern has not been achieved within the sale program,” administrators HLB Mann Judd said at the time.
“There is a difficultly in retail at the moment and a lot of other retailers are in a similar position but there was and still is a lot of love for the Lisa Ho brand. We still have parties interested in the intellectual property and remaining stock.”
Ho blames the downfall of the label largely on a former employee, who she alleged had “misappropriated more than $500,000 between 2004 and 2012,” according to the Daily Telegraph.
A model walks the runway at the Lisa Ho MBFWA 2013 show.
Following that, she also ran into difficulties after her former husband Philip Smouha’s fabric business went under in 2012.
But Ho’s departure from the fashion industry was never seen as a permanent one according to fashion insiders.
"The retail business is a very tough one and Lisa has been an incredible contributor to the Australian fashion scene," commented marie claire’s editor/publisher, Jackie Frank, at the time.
"She created a wonderful brand. Personally I am terribly upset to see Lisa disappear at this time from the landscape but I know she will be back; she’s too talented and her tenure has extended for decades. I look forward to the day she returns to the business."
It seems that day might have just come.
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