Shoe retailer Famous Footwear has collapsed into administration putting 300 jobs at risk.

Duff & Phelps was appointed adminstrator after restructuring specialist GA Europe bought Famous Footwear’s debt. GA is trading the business while Duff & Phelps seeks a buyer, and it is understood that shoe retailer Shoon - which is owned by GA - may be interested in some of the assets.

Famous Footwear trades from 21 stores and 24 concessions in department stores including House of Fraser and Beales. It clocked up £15m in sales in 2011 but is understood to have been loss-making.

It is headquartered in Lancashire and employs 313 people.

Famous Footwear was owned by shareholders who also own Jacobson Group, a shoe sourcing and distribution business, which is unaffected by the adminisitration. It bought Famous Footwear in 2008 to secure a direct route to market for its shoes.