"We'll be advertising the business for sale tomorrow - we're quite confident we'll get expressions of interest and we have the continued support of Laack," Mr Secatore said.

Van Laack acquired Herringbone from administrators in March 2009 following its collapse in December 2008 and bought Rhodes & Beckett in 2012.

Van Laack opened new Herringbone and Rhodes & Beckett stand-alone stores in shopping centres such as Chadstone and concessions in department store Myer.

While Herringbone and Rhodes & Beckett business shirts and mens and womens suits were popular with professionals and finance industry workers, they struggled to compete with cheaper global online retailers such as Charles Tyrwhitt and local players such as TM Lewin.

Mr Secatore also said overheads were too high and the brands had struggled under onerous leases and legacy issues from previous management.

It is understood that van Laack had been supporting the brands financially and supplying most of their stock.

"It got to the point where one can only put in so much money to continue - there are some stores with quite onerous leases and there are some underperforming stores we will keep, the jewels in the crown," Mr Secatore said.

The first meeting of creditors will be held in Melbourne next Tuesday.


Herringbone and Rhodes & Beckett are the latest in a growing list of retail failures and industry experts have warned of more collapses - even among listed retailers - following difficult trading in the last few months.

"The market is opening up and a lot of long-standing retailers in that space are falling by the wayside and will continue to do so," said Retail Doctor chief executive Brian Walker.

M Webster Holdings, the owner of Marcs and David Lawrence, appointed voluntary administrators last week after experiencing cashflow problems towards the end of 2016.

Payless Shoes and Pumpkin Patch collapsed late last year and stores are now being closed after administrators failed to find buyers.