Fashion brand Hanna Sarén files for bankruptcy

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The first well-known Finnish victim of the current recession is Hanna Sarén, one of the best-known Finnish fashion designers, whose company has filed for bankruptcy.
      Ultimate Design, the company behind the Sarén brand, has not been able to service its debts and other financial obligations.
      The sums in question are not big, says Jussi Tiilikka, who is Sarén’s husband and the Managing Director of Ultimate Design. The turnover of the company has been in the region of approximately EUR 200,000.
     
Ultimate Design manufactures and sells clothes and accessories under the name of Hanna Sarén. The fashion designer set up her company some ten years ago, and at some point it was renamed Ultimate Design.
      At the beginning, the company’s entire production was exported to Japan, but in recent years Hanna Sarén products have also been available in Central Europe and in the USA.
      Today, a notice on the window of Hanna Saren’s flagship store on Helsinki’s Fredrikinkatu says that Ultimate Design is having a clearance sale.
      ”My firm is closing down. We ourselves decided to file for bankruptcy”, Hanna Sarén reports. The bankruptcy will have no impact on employment.
     
The profits of Sarén’s enterprise have principally come from export sales, and the company’s problems have been caused by certain destination countries.
      The lagest export volumes of Sarén collections have gone to Japan and the USA, in other words to countries which have been facing the economic decline already for a longer time.
      All attempts to find a backer for the company have failed.
      Fears over worsening economic prospects eventually made her reach a final decision on filing for bankruptcy, Sáren reports.
     
Hanna Sarén is one of the most prominent fashion designers in Finland. She has lately worked as the chief designer for Ril’s, a recognised women’s clothing brand in Finland, while also designing two collections under her own name for the Finnish clothing chain Seppälä.
      Sarén and Tiilikka have already set up a new business. The goal is to continue to sell fashion products under the name Hanna Sarén, while even the store in Helsinki is to remain in the same location.
      ”Life goes on”, Jussi Tiilikka concludes.


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