Born Clothing Closes All Stores After 16 Years as Court Appoints Liquidators Over €7.8m Debt

The High Court has appointed provisional liquidators to the Born Clothing group after determining the Irish clothing retailer is insolvent with debts totalling €7.82 million, including €2.2 million owed to Revenue.

The company, which operated 15 stores nationwide and employed 116 people across locations including The Canopy in Sligo and Carrick-on-Shannon, has been placed into provisional liquidation to allow for an orderly wind-up of the business while trading continues temporarily under court supervision.

Judge Micheál O’Connell appointed David O’Connor and Ian Barrett of BDO as provisional liquidators to 17 companies within the Born Clothing group, including nine trading entities, following an urgent application heard in court on April 22, 2026.

The liquidators’ appointment was presented as necessary to prevent an immediate cessation of trading that would have occurred under a creditors’ voluntary winding up, instead creating a managed pause to secure stock valued at approximately €680,000, address employee entitlements, and allow creditor claims to be processed under judicial oversight.

The court heard that Born Clothing had already crossed the threshold where ordinary turnaround measures were no longer sufficient, with rising liabilities and weakening cash flow leaving little room for a softer restructuring path despite the company’s 16-year history in the Irish retail market.

Provisional liquidation does not constitute a full rescue but is intended to preserve what value remains in the business while an orderly winding up proceeds, with the liquidators tasked with realizing assets, settling preferential claims, and distributing any available funds to creditors in accordance with insolvency law.

The High Court’s intervention follows sustained financial pressures on the retailer, which had operated stores in multiple Irish towns and cities before entering insolvency proceedings that will now determine the future of the brand and its remaining assets.