An award-winning product development company that has been operating for 10 years has collapsed into voluntary administration.
E3 Style, which is still trading, called in external managers on April 15, with Domenic Calabretta from Mackay Goodwin appointed voluntary administrator.
A creditors’ meeting is scheduled for April 28 in Brisbane.
E3 Style has designed and made private-label products for some of Australia’s biggest retailers, including Big W, Kmart, Target and ill-fated electronics chain Dick Smith, although it has not dealt with Dick Smith for around two years.
The Queensland company is a previous Smart50 finalist and in 2012 was turning over around $23 million.
E3 Style was founded in 2006. Since that time, it has won a suite of awards, including Telstra Business Awards and being named on BRW’s Fast Starters list in 2009 and 2010.
The business has produced more than 11 million products, according to its website, including electronics, phone accessories and stationery.
The business also holds products licenses for numerous household names, including Star Wars, Batman, Scooby-Doo!, Hot Wheels and The Simpsons.
E3 Style’s controlled brands include Gadget Geek, Actiiv and LeVision.
A related company named in E3 Style’s privacy policy, KreativeDNA Pty Ltd, is also in administration.
E3 Style’s founder, Vanessa Garrard, told SmartCompany she decided to place the business into administration after a business partner issued a statutory demand against the company.
Cashflow has also been constrained in recent times due to the business issuing legal action in the Supreme Court against a competitor for “theft of information”.
However, Garrard maintains the business is profitable and says everyone will be paid in full when the administration is completed.
“This is to control the situation,” Garrard says.
“My position is and always has been that we keep E3 trading. So we’re working with the administrators to trade through. Everyone keeps their jobs and everything continues on.”
SmartCompany contacted Mackay Goodwin for comment but did not receive a response prior to publication.
Broede Carmody is a former senior SmartCompany reporter. Before this, he was a co-editor of RMIT University’s student magazine Catalyst.
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