Embattled retailer Sneakerboy now under administration with creditors to meet this month

Luxury footwear and fashion retailer Sneakerboy faces a new test after administrators were appointed to oversee the embattled retail chain.

On Saturday, the Australian Securities and Investments (ASIC) published a notice stating Stephen Dixon of Hamilton Murphy Advisory has been tapped as administrator for Sneakerboy Pty Ltd and two related companies using the Sneakerboy name.

Sneakerboy’s parent company Luxury Retail Group is also under fire, as Dixon was also appointed as administrator for Luxury Retail Treasury Pty Ltd and Luxury Retail Group Pty Ltd.

A meeting of creditors is scheduled to take place Wednesday, July 13, the ASIC notice states.

SmartCompany has contacted Hamilton Murphy Advisory for comment.

Calls to Sneakerboy’s Melbourne CBD flagship store went unanswered Monday morning.

The phone number associated with Luxury Retail Group was also disconnected.

Sneakerboy sells upmarket footwear and streetwear, with some Balenciaga sneakers on its walls reaching north of $1500.

The outlet is well-known among sneakerheads and streetwear fans nationwide for its expansive range or new and vintage footwear and its elaborate store fit-outs.

The company operates three retail stores in Melbourne and one in Sydney, along with an online retail portal.

Sneakerboy’s collapse into administration brush is not the first challenge to face the company.

In April, AMP Pacific Fair, operators of the Gold Coast Pacific Fair shopping centre, filed a winding up order in the Queensland Supreme Court. 

Sneakerboy operated a retail store at the shopping centre, though it is no longer listed on the Sneakerboy website.

At the time, The Herald Sun reported Pacific Fair was chasing the company for nearly $300,000 in unpaid rent.

Footwear giant Adidas filed its own winding up order in March 2021, while the Victorian State Revenue Office sought a wind up in April 2020.

The company did score a legal win in 2020, after the Supreme Court of NSW ruled Sneakerboy be granted at least six months of breathing room to recover from COVID-19 business closures before its landlord moved to evict the retailer or raise its rents.

Sneakerboy previously fell into voluntary administration in 2015, owing to “conflicting interests of director and shareholders,” administrator Michael Carrafa of SV Partners told SmartCompany at the time.

However, it re-emerged following a sale to “a party relating to one of the directors,” Carrafa said.

More to come.