Australian fashion label Shona Joy is preparing to shut up shop after 26 years in business.
The Australian Financial Review reported that the label’s founder, Shona Thatcher, had told staff she would close the business to focus on family after moving to Byron Bay.
The news comes several months after Danielle Haddrick stepped down from the CEO position after more than eight years at the business in various roles, with no one set to succeed her.
A month prior to Haddrick’s exit, Ashton Eramya had stepped away as brand director of Shona Joy. He quickly took up a brand director position at The Aje Collective.
According to her LinkedIn, Haddrick is now on a career break and doing full-time parenting.
In the AFR story, Shona Thatcher had told the publication that she and her family moved to Byron Bay five years ago.
“There was always going to be a day when I thought, ‘That’s enough now’,” Thatcher told the AFR. “I’ve done extremely well, and I’m proud of what we’ve built over the past 26 years. The business has grown so much, and I can’t manage being a mum as well. I want to step back. I’m successful, and I want to end [the business] on a successful note. I’m proud that I can do that.”
The AFR added that Thatcher has been contemplating the closure for four years and had explored a sale, but that nothing felt like the right fit.
Shona Joy was founded 26 years ago, with Thatcher initially selling the brand at markets across Sydney. The brand then expanded into wholesale, signing on boutique stockists and later landing in David Jones.
Today, the brand has around 92 stockist doors across 69 retail brands globally, according to its website, including eight David Jones stores, six spaces at Canadian department store Holt Renfrew, and a further six doors via Superette in New Zealand, alongside a raft of independent stockists.
Thatcher is planning to keep the intellectual property and the name associated with the business, and intends to pay entitlements to all 33 staff.
The online store will remain open until the new year.