Accessories retailer Claire’s has collapsed into administration again, just four months after it was bought out of insolvency, putting 1,000 jobs at risk.
Insolvency practitioners from Kroll were appointed to the brand on Monday, according to reports by Sky News.
It comes just three weeks after Modella Capital, the private equity firm that bought Claire’s out of administration last September, filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators for the accessories brand and The Original Factory Shop.
Kroll said: “Philip Dakin, Benjamin Wiles and Janet Burt of Kroll Advisory were appointed as joint administrators of CAUKI Ltd on January 26, 2026.
“The company is continuing to trade during this period.”
Modella said in early January that “alarming” low Christmas sales and tough trading conditions left both retailers in a “vulnerable” position.
The firm acquired Claire’s and 156 of its stores out of administration in September in a deal that preserved around 1,000 jobs.
The Original Factory Shop, which was snapped up early last year, has 140 stores and 1,220 employees.
Modella said: “This has been a very tough decision. We have worked intensively in an effort to save both businesses, having made last-ditch attempts to rescue them, but neither has a realistic possibility of trading profitably again.”
The firm noted that the retailers were “highly vulnerable” even before it bought them and blamed the economic climate, which it said “remains extremely challenging”, and government policy.
“A combination of very weak consumer confidence, highly adverse government fiscal policies and continued cost inflation is causing many established and much-loved businesses to suffer badly,” it said.
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