New start for fashion group Sass & Bide as wealthy investors step in

New CEO of fashion group Sass & Bide, David Briskin, has denied reports that founders Sarah-Jane Clarke and Heidi Middleton have lost control of their business.  

Briskin says he and Daniel Besen have taken a strategic stake in the company, but the founders retain control. “The structure is confidential,” he told SmartCompany this morning.

He also denied reports that the company was in trouble. Accounts from 2006 show the company borrowed $7 million from the ANZ bank and the two directors were loaned $6.52 million. According to a report in The Australian Financial Review, last August Sass & Bide obtained a loan from a company associated with Clarke and a second loan from Middleton’s relative.

The AFR reported that Briskin and Besen, who sold out of fashion accessory company Mimco last year, had bought a major stake in the company as a condition for a $1.5 million loan.

But Briskin says if the company was in trouble, Besen and he would not have invested.

“We have a normal level of debt like other businesses,” he says. “We opened two stores last year and are opening five this year. That’s not a business in trouble.”

Briskin says that Clarke and Middleton, who founded the business 10 years ago, are spending their time on product, design, marketing and branding.

“I am here to help and do all the boring stuff,” he says. “Heidi has just told me she has never felt more inspired.”

Briskin, who co-founded of successful fashion group Mimco with former wife Amanda, says that the principles in any fashion business are the same.

“You have got to keep your eye on the product, designing and producing fantastic products, and then in expanding the business you have got to get the right systems and controls in place. You have to listen to customers, make sure you have control of your inventory and work closely with major partners like David Jones.”

While Briskin refuses to discuss the details of the deal and the amount of debt the company carries, one thing is clear. Last year’s BRW estimate of the pair’s personal fortune on the Young Rich list at $40 million is likely to fall dramatically this year.