London-based clothing manufacturer Jayroma appoints administrators

London-based clothing manufacturer Jayroma London Limited has appointed Deloitte as administrators having attempted an orderly winding down of the business at the start of the year.

Jayroma, which is headed by former Conservative Party chairman Lord Feldman of Elstree, stopped taking new orders at the start of the year and was attempting a solvent winding down process in consultation with staff, customers and suppliers. However it was forced to appoint administrators after some customers cancelled orders and failed to pay large bills.

Lord Feldman told The Times that tough trading conditions on the high street and the migration of manufacturing away from the UK had taken its toll on the family business, which had 45 staff.

“After 47 years of trading, it is a source of great regret that the business has to close. Sadly, the trading conditions in the UK high street are the worse we have seen in the last 25 years,” Lord Feldman told the newspaper.

The last available accounts for the business to 31 December show sales down 9.1% year on to £22.4m and a pre-tax loss for the year of £237,842. At the time of that filing the business said that it had a strong order book for 2017 and was hopeful of a return to profitability, however conditions on the high street had since deteriorated further still.

Andrew Simon Feldman is a long-term friend of former Prime Minister David Cameron, having met him at Brasenose College, Oxford. He was responsible for fundraising Cameron's party leadership bid in 2005 and for preparing the party for the 2010 General Election, after which he was appointed Conservative Party co-chairman. He was awarded a life peerage in December 2010.