An independent children's fashion retailer in Sunderland has ceased trading with the loss of all jobs after a website change triggered its financial collapse.

Designer Childrenswear was founded 30 years ago by husband and wife duo Kevin and Brenda Coade and had grown rapidly in recent years to become the UK’s third largest independent retailer of name brand children’s clothing. The company originally started from a Newcastle Quayside stall, where Mr and Mrs Coade would spend weekends selling children’s dresses, but a switch to luxury childrenswear led to them opening a high street store on Olive Street, Sunderland, in 1984, before later expanding into Derwent Street.

The company – originally called Avenue – was a social media early adopter, helping it to swiftly drive up sales through its website. It sold more than 160 brands and shipped to over 120 countries worldwide. However, problems with a new website launched in Autumn 2022 triggered a chain of events that led to its fall into administration.

Andrew Haslam and Allan Kelly of specialist business advisory firm FRP Advisory were appointed as joint administrators on November 27 and all 30 members of staff were made redundant. A new report published by the administrators shows creditors will be owed an estimated £1.5m but they are unlikely to receive any money, according to the Companies House document.

The report shows turnover had grown following the pandemic, from £4.5m in 2020 to £5.3m by the end of April 2022, but net profits fell over the same time period from £232,000 to £64,000.

The document says: “Historically the company has traded profitably and built-up cash reserves to allow forward orders for new seasons stocks to be placed with confidence. In Autumn 2022 the directors undertook a project to renew the company’s website in order to produce an increase in online orders. However, the website installation became protracted leading to the company being offline for the 2022 Black Friday period, which the directors estimate lost the company circa £1m in turnover.”

FRP Advisory said the business was placed into administration after a sustained period of challenging trading conditions and cashflow pressure, which meant it was unable to meet its financial obligations, with all employees made redundant on appointment. All customer orders were fulfilled before it ceased trading.

Since appointment, the administrators have secured the sale of the stock and shopfittings to a trade buyer. The freehold premises in Sunderland are currently being marketed for sale.

Mr Haslam, restructuring advisory partner at FRP and joint administrator, said: “Unfortunately, like many other businesses in the retail industry, Designer Childrenswear Limited was not immune to a significant fall in demand and mounting external pressures, most notably rising costs, made the business financially unviable.

“Regrettably, this meant all staff were made redundant on appointment. We’re supporting the individuals affected to file claims with the Redundancy Payments Services and working with property agents to release the property assets for marketing.”