Cue Clothing Co, the Sydney fashion house behind the Cue and Veronika Maine womenswear labels, has gone into receivership and voluntary administration, putting its four New Zealand outlets in doubt as the local clothing trade reports another fall in spending.
The appointments were made on Tuesday 15 September. British owner Hilco Capital appointed Vaughan Strawbridge and Kate Warwick of FTI Consulting as receivers and managers, while directors appointed Duncan Clubb and Shaun McKinnon of BDO as voluntary administrators, the NZ Herald reported. Trade publication Retailbiz reported that the receivership covers the New Zealand companies Cue NZ and Cue International (NZ) as well as the Australian parent.
Cue has three standalone shops and one department store presence in New Zealand, according to RNZ. The Herald said the brand’s New Zealand website lists stores in Newmarket and Onehunga in Auckland and in Wellington, along with a concession inside Ballantynes in Christchurch.
The stores are still open. FTI Consulting said in a statement that “The Receivers are continuing to trade the business while they undertake an assessment of the business and restructuring options available,” and that a sale process seeking buyers for the business as a going concern would begin straight away. It is not yet clear whether any jobs will go on either side of the Tasman.
The receivers put the collapse down to costs rather than a lack of customers. “The receivers understand that notwithstanding the increase in sales and other improvements across the group, these were insufficient to mitigate the impact of overhead costs currently in the business,” FTI Consulting said, as reported by Inside Retail.
Cue was founded in Sydney in 1968 by Rod Levis as a single boutique in the Strand Arcade and grew into one of Australia’s best-known workwear labels, adding Veronika Maine as a sister brand in 1998. The Levis family sold the business to Hilco Capital in 2025. Hilco then put both brands up for sale in August 2026, only for no sale to eventuate before receivers were called in. Retailbiz noted that the company’s chief executive had also resigned before the administration, and that Cue’s online store was running 25 percent off storewide.
A Hilco spokesman described the result as a “disappointing outcome, but the only available course of action given the circumstances”, the Herald reported, citing the Australian Financial Review. “Our intention has always been to fund Cue to restore growth and profitability,” he said.
The Australian Associated Press said the two labels have 51 stores across Australia, with their clothes also sold through dozens of Myer and David Jones department stores.
The timing is grim for anyone selling clothes in New Zealand. The collapse landed on the same day Stats NZ released its electronic card transactions figures for August, which showed seasonally adjusted retail card spending fell 0.9 percent, or $63 million, from July. Core retail spending, which leaves out fuel and motor vehicles, dropped 1.0 percent over the month, interest.co.nz reported.
Retail NZ’s analysis of the same data found actual core retail card spending in August was flat compared with a year earlier, after a 3.5 percent lift in July. Clothing was the weak spot, with apparel spending down 2.5 percent on August 2025.
“Another sharp decline in apparel spending (2.5% year-on-year) will be a blow to those retailers, who would have hoped that July was the start of a turning point in terms of growth in the sector,” Retail NZ chief executive Carolyn Young said in a media release.
Young listed several reasons shoppers had kept their wallets closed, including the signalled 0.25 percentage point rise in the Official Cash Rate in early September, regular 91 petrol averaging more than $3 a litre since the end of July, high unemployment and uncertainty ahead of the general election. She said July had been lifted by the Matariki public holiday, the men’s Football World Cup, an extra trading weekend and steady petrol prices.
Retailers are pinning their hopes on the warmer months. Young said spring usually brings a boost in spending on clothing and outdoor gear, and that visitor numbers returning to pre-Covid levels in July should help. “We’re heading into a crucial time of year for our stores, as many rely on strong summer sales to sustain them through quieter months later in the year,” she said.
Economists are less optimistic about a quick turnaround. Westpac senior economist Satish Ranchhod told interest.co.nz the August fall was larger than the bank had expected, and that household budgets face more strain from higher fuel prices, other rising living costs, a soft job market and two OCR hikes since July. “Spending growth is likely to pick up again next year as the jobs market eventually improves and inflation eases. However, the recovery is likely to remain gradual in the near term,” he said.
Cue is not the only Australian retailer to fail this year. AAP noted that barbecue chain Barbeques Galore collapsed in June after receivers failed to find an acceptable buyer, leaving 500 workers without jobs. For Cue’s New Zealand staff and customers, the key question now is whether a buyer emerges willing to keep the four local outlets trading, or whether they close.
Have you noticed more of your favourite clothing stores closing or running deep discounts this year? Tell us what you are seeing in the comments below.
This article was written by AI, briefed to report the facts, hopefully without some of the bias people bring to the job 🙂
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