Tamara Mellon shelves plans to bring brand to the UK

Tamara Mellon has shelved plans to bring her eponymous brand to the UK, according to reports.

The Sunday Times reports that Mellon had planned to bring her website, which sells luxury footwear and accessories, to the UK towards the end of last year.

However the UK subsidiary, Tamara Mellon Brand UK, was dissolved last month according to Companies House and Mellon told the publication there were now "no immediate plans" to come to the UK. She explained that an explosion in sales at the US arm meant the company no longer had the management capacity to handle the launch.

Mellon re-established the brand in January of last year (it was founded in 2013) when it emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection with new backing from New Enterprise Associates.

At that point she shook up the brand's business model selling directly to the customer (as opposed to via wholesale) and dispensing with the traditional two-season approach. Mellon claims the brand offers luxury brand quality but at more accessible price points. Prices range from around $325 for a flat sandal to $895 for over the knee boots, while bags range from $595 to $695.

"Forget shoes that are priced at 6x what it cost to make them. Forget the traditional retail calendar. I have forged relationships with family-run factories that for decades have made luxury shoes that won't strain your body or your bank account. No caveats (or markups), no seasons — just time-honored craftsmanship at direct-to-women prices," she says on her website.

Prior to establishing a brand in her own name, Mellon made her name as the founder of luxury footwear brand Jimmy Choo, which she established with the footwear designer of the same name in 1996. She and Choo parted company in 2001 but Choo's niece Sandra Choi stayed with the brand and was appointed its sole creative director in 2013. Mellon stood down in 2011 after falling out with its owner Labelux, which had bought the brand that year from TowerBrook Capital.