Bill Wavish consortium buys collapsed Australian fashion brand Cue

A consortium led by former Myer chairman Bill Wavish has purchased Cue Clothing Co, giving the collapsed Australian fashion brand a shot at a second life, The Australian reports.

The deal covers both brands in the group: Cue and its sister label Veronika Maine. Cue Clothing founder Rod Levis has welcomed the sale to Wavish, according to The Australian Financial Review. Wavish plans to personally oversee operations and is positive the brand could become a leading Australian fashion brand once again, the AFR reports.

FTI Consulting, whose Kate Warwick and Vaughan Strawbridge serve as receivers on the case, declined to comment on the reports when contacted by SmartCompany.

How did Cue get here?

The company entered voluntary administration and receivership in September. Its directors appointed Duncan Clubb and Shaun McKinnon of BDO as voluntary administrators, while FTI's Warwick and Strawbridge took the receivership role and fielded non-binding offers from prospective buyers.

The collapse triggered a rapid store rationalisation. Five stores shut in the immediate wake of the administration. Then, in mid-October, the company announced another 26 closures, with New South Wales hit hardest.

That brings announced closures to 31 across the network in roughly a month. The shuttered sites include Cue stores in Woden, Parramatta, Melbourne Central and Armadale, plus a Veronika Maine store in Mosman. Staff at those locations face potential redeployment elsewhere in the network rather than outright redundancy.

Cue is not a young casualty. Founded in 1968, it has operated women's fashion stores across Australia and New Zealand for more than five decades — a run that makes its collapse, and now its rescue, a significant marker for local retail.

What does this change for the brand and its suppliers?

For Cue and Veronika Maine customers, the sale means the labels stay in Australian hands with an owner who knows the terrain. Wavish chairs are familiar territory: he is a former Woolworths executive and chaired department store Myer. His stated plan to personally run day-to-day operations signals a hands-on turnaround rather than a passive financial hold.

For landlords and staff, the immediate picture is tighter. A network that has already absorbed 31 announced closures will likely stay lean while the new owner stabilises the business.

For the wider independent fashion sector, the timing is brutal. Cue's possible revival lands just as David Jones entered voluntary administration, leaving many smaller independent labels scrambling to retrieve goods sent to the collapsed department store. Two major retail channels wobbling at once squeezes the labels that depend on them.

The reported price and structure of the Wavish consortium's purchase have not been disclosed. Neither the administrators at BDO nor FTI Consulting have confirmed the transaction publicly. Until they do, the revival rests on the reporting of The Australian and the AFR — and on Wavish executing a turnaround in a market where department-store anchors are folding around him.