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news
Vulpine cap logos.JPGCycle clothing brand Vulpine is "insolvent" and enters administration
London-based cycle clothing brand Vulpine has entered administration. The news was confirmed in an email send this afternoon by its founder, Nick Hussey, to investors in the business.
He wrote:
It is with intense sadness that I have to inform you that Vulpine is insolvent, and I have had to take the extremely difficult but essential decision to place the company I founded into administration, under UK law, hence my unusual formality.
Two Partners from RSM Restructuring Advisory LLP will be appointed administrators next week, after a special resolution was passed yesterday by ‘A Shareholders’, who are able to vote. Once appointed the Administrators will have full control of the company and I will no longer be able to make any decisions.
We have done all we can to finance the company. The late arrival of the majority of our Spring Summer 2017 stock put us in a more difficult cash position. Thus we sought to raise investment again through crowdfunding. But this did not gain the necessary momentum to complete, likely due to the very poor trading figures of the last financial year.
Thus we pulled out of the Crowdcube attempted raise and began contacting previously interested investors and potential buyers of Vulpine, plus a raft of new contacts.
Whilst there was strong recognition of the brand, and initial verbal interest, none have produced offers or ongoing due diligence, and communication has stopped. It is highly possible that, having seen our precarious financial position and the complications of doing a fast enough deal, they are waiting to pick the business up in administration instead, if any deal is to be done.
Vulpine’s brand and business structure remains relatively undamaged at this point, and any acquisition via administration would see the highest potential value to all stakeholders if conducted as quickly as possible.
The proposed Administrators plan is to try to sell the company’s assets, such as brand, goodwill, database & website to maximize realisations for the benefit of creditors and potentially shareholders.
You can contact Robert Young at RSM for advice on this process, or if you believe there may be an interested buyer: robert.young [at] rsmuk.comI cannot offer financial advice, and I encourage you to seek your own, but if you qualify for EIS status, you should be able to claim significant Loss Relief on top of your Tax Relief.I wish you all the very best.
Ride well.
More to follow.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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253 comments
But if they are still trading whilst in Administration and there is no mention of this on the website, and you purchased and item from them today, unawhere of the insolvency, then wouldn't you presume that you were buying with the Sale of Goods Act and even the terms of their 'Free Returns' still applying.
Isn't this dishonest at best and illegal at worst.
I've just seen a tweet from 'Cyclelove' advising not to buy from the website as the notice about the being in Administration is easily missed.
Just checked the homepage myself and it is now showing that their in Administration. They're also advising against placing any new orders.
Really not sure when this changed, but if you don't go to their homepage first then you will still be non the wiser.
Dear road.cc writers: have there been enough (or, any) new developments on this story to warrant a new story? Rather than the comments being about a hundred times longer than the original article?
This comment thread is vertically compliant and laterally stiff with all the latest tech, it's leading the disc brake charge with plus size tyres for your gravel riding, you think where does that road go and with its more upright sportive all day comfort geometry this thread says yes, go down the road you don't know. And also you'll no doubt have noticed it comes in this seasons must have gray text in a white background colour.
Its a £250 pair of shorts when you only ride one day a week, it's 15% better than the previous version but still more expensive and 10% worse than the competition. It's at a discount to Rrp but still at the same price as 40weeks of the year, it's race results when you are still coming home from work. It's time I pressed save without checking spelling and grammar!
I'm still very interested in what has been happening with Vulpine and would hope to see more coverage from online media. I'd really like to know what's happening.
I restate that I love their products and have lots of them, but I read their crowdfunding pitch and thought I wouldn't touch it with a bargepole (the "rewards" were cr*p and the overall company aim was to sell out).
Think the big lesson here is how unregulated crowdfunding is.
Blimey, 230 posts about a now extinct, minor player in the cycling rag trade. Probably more posts in a week than they took orders. Sadly the crowd funding model allows Jo Public to take a punt on businesses the owner cannot / will not back. The banks, trade finance, PE have all kicked the tyres on this and walked away from it.
Tony,
I find the below and your latest post a little smug and condescending...
Tony Farrelly wrote:
@Fixie Girl
Hi there,
In case you’re wondering where some of your comments on this story have gone - we’ve deleted them to save you from the real risk of being sued for slander.
Not sure how it works over there in Portland but over here if you call someone a crook you generally need to be able to back the assertion up with something more than your “Spidey Sense”.
As for the rumours circulating in Portland - we’ve asked around and they would appear to have no basis in fact.
At least one member of the road.cc team invested money in Vulpine, we’ve been reviewing their kit since they launched, and from time to time they’ve advertised on the site - generally we like their stuff.
Our hope is that the company will emerge from administration in some form, ideally with all or most of its workforce intact.
Don’t know how likely that is to happen, but I do know that personal abuse and unfounded rumours from someone who seems to be neither a Vulpine customer, investor or employee is unlikely to do much to help that positive outcome become a reality - the personal abuse bit also breaks our site T&Cs.
Tony,
road.cc editor
I'm not going back thru 8 pages to know whether it was sent personally or posted as a comment but either way I would anticipate that you would have more respect for your customers. Also, if you find calling someone a 'crook' to be a danger then why is it back within the comments section?
At the outset there was a large defensive push that roadcc was simply a fan of their clothes, shared their news and ads yet the discourse remains that you are spinning everything positively "is unlikely to do much to help that positive outcome become a reality".
From what I have read the likelihood of a positive outcome is minimal and the ability of the man in question to run a business successfully well er... I'll avoid slander. If encouraging people to stick to the facts and only post things written in stone then surely you have to be a little more balanced with your use of language.
Your latest post has a very relevant point about what people are allowed to say. Unfortunately, I nearly missed it as 75% of what you said was cheap digs at some of your customers for doing exactly what an internet site based on readership and discussion is likley to do. I do like your use of sarcasm though, journalism of the highest order.
p.s. please don't ban me, roadcc is all I have!
I understood that the deadline for bids for the sale of the business was last Friday. I only know because the guy who replaced me at Shutt mentioned it. And no I don't think they put in a bid. It was a low price to get it apparently just not low enough.
Pete
I just lerned this today.
Sad. Sad for the people who invested and who worked for Vulpine.
I have a few of their items and different ranges but again like most I only bought it when they have sample sale.
some interesting comments on the bikebiz article that they managed to get written over a week ago, none of them mine btw;
http://www.bikebiz.com/news/read/what-the-hell-happened-at-vulpine/021275
Vulpine sold to Mango bikes. Will Mr.Hussey break his silence now??
Got my Cima Coppi light-weight jersey other day. I think I'll be sticking with them from now on - they're focused: Jerseys, jackets and base-layers, in wool, for cycling.
In all fairness, on the face of it it does look a really promising move.
Match made in heaven
Poncy hipster bike clothing company bought by poncy hipster bike company
Yup that was me — as we had been promoting Vulpine via an affiliate deal I wanted to let people know what was happening, especially as they've been so quiet on social media. (Not sure I'm going to get the money I'm owed from this yet).
Agree. It's clearly something of interest to your readers, and of critical relevance to the cycling industry. I'm sure you'd get quotes from some parties involved.
It's not all about you. Some people here actually manage to ride a bike more than once a week.
By the way, if you want to talk about spelling and grammar, "Its" should be "It's".
Don't worry Alan, you have to do a lot better/worse than that to get yourself banned around here.
No. Not until the press release is issued. I got in before the official announcement.
I think you missed the point @Spacer. Try reading @check12's second paragraph in your very best and most ironic [clue] Alanis Morissette voice.
But you're right about the apostrophe. No excuse for that.
It is coming but just like the shite on you get on Singletrackworld et al they are waiting for someone else to write the content to copy and paste it.
It's on Facebook, must be true...
Screenshot_2017-05-26-21-52-12.png
Yeah, thanks, Trigger. Christ!
FTFY.
The Mango Bikes thing is great news. From my dealings with Nick you just know that he's the sort of guy that can pull this kind of deal off - despite the moronic internet trolls spraying shade while sitting in their bedroom eating cheetohs.
Who the F are mango? A soft drink?
Kandinski -You are a total douche bag, and I bet you love the attention - If you really know Nick, which I doubt, then you know he is less than h*nest. If he has any dealings with this new venture I will eat my own ... You are a total fan boy
Now, now.
Personally I can't wait til the next blog about how growing up in a mining town, swearing lots, going to a tinpot university, having a gun held to his head and then working in films qualifies whoever made the deal as 4 Real 4 Life, Yo.
I had a toast tonight to a genuine cyclist who died doing something amazing.
Chancers like the manchild involved in making a load of overpriced shit and running its manufacturer into the ground to fund his poncey lifestyle need to GTFO of cycling. Mentioning no names, natch.
Pricks who feel the need to brag about £££ on bike threads are no better - even worse if you're full of shit, which, statistically, you probably are.
Also, if Unconstituted is reading this, Unflounce, mate.
They're an independant British bike brand - somewhat 'urban'. They don't do any clothing at the moment - it'll be fascinating to see how they take the brand forward - they're a really creative company.
Interesting times
By creative of course you mean importing Unipack fixed gear bikes with slightly upgraded parts and selling them at a really low margin. Then expanding by getting Brant Richards in to design and oragnise production of a new road bike and selling that at low margin as well.
What this is however is correctly identifiying the niche and operating in it. Which is a step up from the previous owner of Vulpine I guess.
Cutting but true. There's a strange mystique around fixie bikes when any idiot could put one together. I'm living proof of that.
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