I think that Karen Millen are in trouble

[Iamthewombat]

I have bought many delightful garments from Karen Millen over the past 15 years, but I think that it has met its nemesis.

Many, many sales and too much polyester over the past couple of years.

I ordered a top online last week. Not up to normal standards and (unusually for Karen Millen, home of the tiny size), massive!

Invoice in the package was in FRENCH and did not contain returns label. Alarm bells ringing. Decided to return it to the store in the city I was working in today (Leeds): store - in prestigious Victoria quarter location - closed this week.

I was actually in there a couple of weeks ago: noticed that assistants were uncharacteristically surly and there wasn’t much stock. Suspicious.

Looks like they have run out of cash? Such a shame. They used to make such lovely things and still produce the odd gem.

It used to be the place to turn to for something to wear on a night out and whilst my nights out are rare I still like a nice top and sadly there is nothing but overpriced tat in Karen Millen now.

It's a brand I very much associate with 20 years ago.

They have been for a while.

Its just been put up for sale.

I'd forgotten about them tbh - they were my go-to for school or uni posh party dresses around 15 years ago but it never occurs to me to visit their website and I never see stores, just stumble across them in tired department stores occasionally

Yes their heyday was 20 years ago. You couldn’t go to a wedding or big night out without seeing dozens or Karen Millen dresses.

I have bought a lovely dressy shirt dress from them ( first time I have bought anything from them in years) in the sale. The sizing was more generous than I remember but the quality of this one item was good.

Will Reiss follow them if they fall? I saw some nice things in French Connection recently but that is another brand I don’t here much about anymore.

Our French connection closed last year.

French Connection also went down the polyester road. Idiots.

Karen Millen still did some good stuff - coats in particular - but their shoes and bags got worse after they changed supplier and they moved away from silk to ubiquitous bloody polyester for tops etc. I think they also moved away from making stuff in the UK.

Things must be bad if they are closing their shop in Leeds city centre. Suspect they are running out of cash, like LK Bennett did.

I bought a cracking coat from KM in TK Maxx for 30 quid. In no universe would I pay 300 quid rrp.

Their design principle is a problem - it's still vixen-stuns-the-boardroom, which doesn't seem very 2020. A shame, because KM really can cut clothes. Their fabrics used to be superb - polyester not as good.

“vixen-stuns-the-boardroom”

😂 Just perfect

Leeds store had massive sale on and staff implied closing?

The one in Leeds has shut down

The Leeds store had closing down signs in the window a few weeks ago

www.irishtimes.com/business/retail-and-services/karen-millen-payroll-issues-leave-employees-short-changed-1.3876561?mode=amp

French Connection sold Toast last year so I think FC aren't far off collapse either.

None of this surprises me.

Even aat their late 80s early 90s peak, FC sold stuff that fell apart after a couple of washes, even if it looked and felt lovely.

At uni 2000-2003 Karen Millen was our go to for going out stuff. Still have a beautiful silk top from there. But haven’t been in for years as whenever I walked past the body-con/bit tarty type stuff in the window put me off. Shame.

I went ‘shopping’ yesterday all the high street shops were full of poor quality sale stuff - Hobbs, jigsaw, whistles, fc, Reiss, KM ... it was a depressing sea of artificial fibres. I just wanted a skirt or dress for a party but I’m going to stick to a 15 year old silk dress from jigsaw - it’s beautiful and was less than £100, lovely thick glossy silk. It just doesn’t compare to the overpriced viscose stuff now - either super thin or scratchy. I reckon there are going to be slot of closures, the cold summer means that people just haven’t bought summer clothes and the weather has only improved now that the sales have started.

The quality of KM clothing went down the swannie a few years ago unfortunately. I bought a beautiful dress in there years ago and there's nothing to even touch its quality of cut nowadays. Although that could be said for many of the brands already mentioned i.e. Hobbs, Jigsaw, FC etc. It's a shame.

Would not be surprised as I associate it with a night out in polyester circa 2001.

Don't shop there as the sizes are too small - so they are cutting off a massive part of today's market as well.

I

Their prices have remained high, their pretty much style the same as 20 years ago. The only thing that's changed has been the quality which has gone to shit. I walked straight out of the Covent Garden branch as the garish colours and patterns were migraine inducing.
I have had some nice things from them in the past, pony skin coat (no real ponies involved) a couple of japenese style cocktail dresses, lovely leather shoes...all of which still look good now, but I haven't bought from them in a long time.

I bought a gorgeous dress from there last summer for a day at the races, got loads of compliments and really good quality fabric but nothing this year when I was looking a for a wedding.

I’ve had a potter round Harrogate this afternoon, everywhere had a sale on, nothing really appealing at all. Nowhere selling what I want which is smartish clothes that are not dry clean only at a reasonable price. I don’t want boardroom wear, just smarter than casual iyswim. I also want some smart pointed flats and failed to find any, well Next had a lovely pair in the sale but not in my size.

Love ‘vixen stuns the boardroom’!

I always imagined that there were loads of women like me, prepared to pay more for good design and decent fabric but not in the Gucci league. I must be wrong though because all the ‘top end of the high street’ shops have moved depressingly downmarket and embraced synthetic fibres, albeit still at ambitious prices.

Karen Millen used to buy fabric from the top mills, and it showed (I have a friend in the fabric industry). Unlike Samantha Cameron’s Cefinn label, which apparently buys the crappest fabrics from the cheapest mills in Turkey. Perhaps she bumped into Touker Suleyman (dragons’ den) at the Dorchester!

I've completely given up on the high street. It's a sea of bilge. I just go to local boutiques now, who seem to have good quality clothes in good fabrics and less stuff, so I don't have to rifle through rails of shite to find 1 decent thing. I don't find it a shame that shop after shop on the high street is closing. It's simple commerce and economics. Either up your game or be prepared for customers to go elsewhere.