Dutch sneaker label Etq is making a fresh start, according to a public bankruptcy report from the company. The brand’s three BVs, Etq Holding BV, Etq Amsterdam BV and Etq Retail BV, were declared bankrupt by the Amsterdam court on Tuesday 8 November. On November 29th, an agreement was reached with the Groningen-based company Micanza for the restart.
The Micanza company appears to have been registered with the Chamber of Commerce since November 29th. It is not yet clear who is behind the company. However, trustee JL Van den Heuvel told Retailtrends that Etq will be giving up physical stores and only running a web shop. The shop on the Singel in Amsterdam, which opened in 2015, remains closed. The Etq website does not appear to have been offline since the bankruptcy.
Etq bankruptcy due to supply issues
Etq co-founder Patrick van der Woude told Textilia in November how the company ran into difficulties due to quality and supply issues at a supplier “in Etq’s most important season”. “This led to a situation where the company was no longer viable,” says Van der Woude.
Both Van der Woude and trustee Van den Heuvel confirmed that various options for a relaunch are being examined. Etq was founded in Amsterdam in 2010 by Van der Woude and Hugo Castermans. In 2015 the company opened its first store on the Singel in Amsterdam.
According to the Etq website, the brand is also currently sold in several stores in the Netherlands and two stores in Belgium. In the Netherlands, the brand is available from De Bijenkorf, Coef, Rinsma, Jansen-Noy and The Society Shop, among others.
A year before bankruptcy, in November 2021, Etq received a multimillion-dollar investment, the exact amount of which was never disclosed. At the time, Etq said it wanted to use them to “spread its wings in countries like the UK, Germany and France.”
This translated article originally appeared on FashionUnited.nl.