ts allure, while an e-commerce site made it accessible for those outside of Sydney. A timeline of events Tuchuzy was founded by Daria Sukic in 1995 and operated for 25 years before first entering voluntary administration in June 2020 – its demise at the time was put down to the volatile retail market caused by the pandemic and lockdowns. In late May 2020, less than a week before Tuchuzy announced it was filing for voluntary administration, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) revealed the extent of the damage with a 53.6 per cent drop in clothing, footwear and personal accessory spending. Tuchuzy survived the retail apocalypse through a Deed of Company Arrangement, only to find itself in voluntary administration again half a decade later.  In March 2025, it was announced that Tuchuzy had fallen into administration again. The most recent administration came more than a year after Tuchuzy was sold in a private sale to two ongoing investors. Similar to the landscape in 2020, retail is facing significant external challenges, including the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, global economic and political uncertainty and supply chain disruption. Tuchuzy is not the only Australian retailer to enter voluntary administration in 2025, with Ally Fashion, Jeanswest, Mosaic Brands and Wittner Shoes being just a few of the others. New data from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) revealed that retail insolvencies rose 19.65 per cent in the nine months to March 31 compared with the same period in FY24. “I’m not shocked by the demise of any brand or retailer in this economic climate. I think it’s very sad when a business goes into decline, it’s definitely not something any business owner wants,” Phoebes Garland, co-founder of Garland & Garland, a fashion and lifestyle brand management agency, told Inside Retail.  Tuchuzy’s cash flow gap has been widely reported, and it has been a point of conversation amongst retail experts. Tuchuzy racked up $5.26 million in estimated liabilities in the lead-up to its second collapse. The hard lessons learned  According to reporting by Ragtrader, of the $5.26 million in debts, $422,552 is owed to employees, $3.32 million is owed to ordinary unsecured creditors and $1.51 million is owed to related party creditors. “The case of Tuchuzy serves as a stark reminder of the importance of managing both cash conversion cycle and profit margins,” Carla Penn-Khan, co-founder of Profit Peak, wrote in a LinkedIn post. “Without close attention to both areas, businesses can quickly find themselves with a cash crunch,” she added. From Garland’s perspective, Tuchuzy’s outgoings were no doubt quite high relative to its sales, however, there is no ‘typical’ amount of debt for Australian brands. Tuchuzy stocks a variety of Australian and international brands including Anine Bing, Brie Leon, Farm Rio, Ksubi and Jacquemus.  “Margin is a big factor for multi-brand stores, especially when they don’t have exclusive supply on well-known brands,” Garland explained. “Quite often they are competing with a brand’s own online store and department stores discounting many times a year, which they can’t compete with, and without a high volume of sales to even counteract it,” she continued.  “We are finding this a lot across the multi-brand boutique market.”  Two weeks ago, Sydney-based Luxe Retail Group bought Tuchuzy’s key assets for a few hundred thousand dollars, according to Ragtrader. “There’s still a demand for the Tuchuzy brand, and we were able to sell that successfully,” Kwok, one of the administrators, said in a statement. “It’s been a clean sale, and we run our investigations to see whether there’s any money that needs to be clawed back for the benefit of creditors. And that depends on what our investigation will look like.” Kwok and Resnick are still investigating the cause of the brand’s demise but Garland shared pointed advice for the Bondi brand’s revival. “​​Listening and understanding the customer is key and balancing costs to align with realistic retail sales and focusing on the growth of the brand and sales,” concluded Garland.  “Like any brand being picked up from administrators, it’s important to realise where all the weak spots are and address that – otherwise, the same thing will happen,” she added. “It will need a strong strategic overhaul in many areas, from stock, marketing, to costings, to product, to become a strong, profitable brand again.” Tuchuzy has since shared a statement confirming a new Bondi flagship store is “on the way”.