Diana Ferrari to focus on shoes, not fashion

Australian fashion brand Diana Ferrari will close its bricks and mortar boutiques, scrap its apparel line, and focus solely on footwear as its owner tries to adapt to the tough retail environment.

Diana Ferrari’s owner, the Munro Footwear Group (MFG), said the 37-year-old brand’s shoes would still be sold online, and via its Williams and Mathers shops as well as David Jones and Myer.

MFG will close 14 Diana Ferrari boutiques in the coming months and three others will be rebranded.

Five clearance outlets in Victoria and one in New South Wales will remain open.

MFG acquired Diana Ferrari in June last year when it bought Fusion Retail Brands, which also owned the Colorado label.

This added to its stable of vertically integrated brands including Styletread, Midas, Mollini, Wanted and Django & Juliette.

MFG’s chief executive, Jay Munro, said it was closing Diana Ferrari stores and exiting apparel so it could ‘‘focus on its core business and objective of being Australia’s best footwear company.

‘‘Diana Ferrari is an iconic Australian footwear brand and MFG is committed through this change to further strengthen the brand going forward,’’ he said.

Munro said Diana Ferrari stores and its apparel range had been ‘‘solid performers’’ but it was the right strategic decision to focus solely on footwear.

All affected retail staff would be offered new jobs through MFG’s network of 280 stores, he said.

Accounts lodged with Australia’s corporate regulator show MFG’s revenue jumped by A$20 million (NZ$22 million) in the 12 months to July 2, 2017, to A$57m.

But its after-tax profit fell from

A$2.8m in 2016 to a loss of

A$482,894.

The news follows a string of high-profile collapses over the past

18 months including Oroton, Marcs, David Lawrence, Herringbone, Rhodes & Beckett, Payless Shoes and Pumpkin Patch. –Brisbane Times