Cinori salvages Midas, Mollini

 

MELBOURNE: The new owners of Midas and Mollini have revealed they will make few changes to the established high street brands.

As first reported on Ragtrader online, the two brands formerly under the Figgins Holdings portfolio were acquired by Cinori Shoes at the close of February 2010. Cinori owner Kerrie Munro disclosed the details of the purchase.

“We have always admired the Figgins business model and when the two iconic brands of Midas and Mollini became available we believed they would be a perfect fit with our existing images,” Munro said.

Under the deal Cinori has acquired the Midas and Mollini brand names, eight Mollini stores, five Midas stores and all of the Midas David Jones concession stores. Munro said she has also retained Figgins staff “to ensure smooth sailing”.

“We do not see any major change to either the brand image or the structure of these two famous brands as this was their appeal to us in the first palce. As it was not a long thought out process before we purchased the brands we have no real thoughts on the future other than to get them back to full stocks and looking fabulous,” she said.

Cinori Shoes Pty Ltd is based in Collingwood, Victoria and was founded by the Munro family 17 years ago. It operates 13 Cinori Shoes retail stores as well as 3 Dare retail stores. The Munro family also owns wholesale shoe business Styling Services which imports and distributes brands including Top End, I Love Billy, Django & Juliette and Gamin.

Documents lodged with ASIC reveal Styling Services is among Figgins Holdings’s unsecured creditors with $41,164 owing to the company.

Munro said while she was excited by Cinori’s new acquisitions she was also saddened by Figgins’s demise.

“The shoe industry is much dimished by the closure of the Figgins business as it has been a role model for the entire industry for over 40 years,” she said.

Erin O’Loughlin