Isda & Co., the San Francisco-based women’s clothing line known for simple designs and high-quality materials, abruptly stopped operations after 25 years. According to California Apparel News, the label gave no explanation for its sudden closure, leaving its sales representatives and retail partners confused.
By all accounts, it appeared to be business as usual when the label presented its Fall 2014 collection earlier this year at Coterie in New York and Stitch in Las Vegas. Debbie Harder, owner of the store Bossa Nova in Sonoma, Calif., said she placed orders at Coterie in February and received a call in June from her sales representative explaining that she wouldn’t be receiving any orders.
Brand employees were surprised by the closure as well. Gary Kitaeff, an Isda Northeast sales representative for 19 years, told California Apparel News that he received a call in June to inform him that the brand would be suspending operations. He then had to call the 75 stores he worked with in the territory to inform them that there would be no fall deliveries.
David Byrne, the company’s Southeast representative based in Atlanta, got a similar phone call and was also told that the company would not go forward with shipping fall product.
Isda Funari, designer and founder of the brand sold a majority share of her company almost 20 years ago to Hii Finance Corp., a private investment company in Virginia, which also holds a stake in White + Warren, a New York-based cashmere brand. Calls were made looking to speak to Hii Finance president Samia Farouki, but were answered with an even more puzzling response. “The person that is responsible for that is not here. He will be back in 10 days,” followed by an abrupt hang up, California Apparel News reported.
No bankruptcy filings for Isda or Hii Finance Corp. were found in California or Virginia. Isda corporate headquarters and on-site outlet store’s voice mail message instructs callers to leave a message or send an email if they have accounting issues or questions.