KPMG’s Brendan Richards and Gayle Dickerson were today appointed voluntary administrators of national specialty menswear retailer Ed Harry.

Established in 1993, and relaunched in 2011, Ed Harry today operates 87 stores across all Australian mainland states and territories and employs 498 staff. The head office is based in Hindmarsh in Adelaide, South Australia.

“Ed Harry is a long established, iconic Australian menswear business,” Richards said.

“Like many other Australian retailers, after a strong period of growth, it has faced a challenging environment over the past 12 months - and a particularly tough Christmas sales period. It has also become clear that shopping centre footfall has been significantly weaker than expected.”

MD David Clark said said it was a tough decision.

“Competition both in local bricks and mortar and online has been fierce in our sector for some time now. While this was to be expected, the directors had been exploring options for funding to enable Ed Harry to continue to compete and grow, however to this point have been unsuccessful. Today is a difficult day for all our hard-working employees and loyal customers.”

With the support of Ed Harry’s employees and key stakeholders, store trading will continue as normal while the administrators undertake an immediate assessment of business. The administrators will be exploring all possible options, including a trade sale.

In the short-term the business will immediately embark on a clearance sale of existing merchandise to maximise options for the business. Gift cards will be honored for one month on a dollar-for-dollar basis only.

The first meeting of creditors of the company will be held in Adelaide on January 24.