Sports compression brand SKINS files for bankruptcy

Australia’s first sports compression manufacturer, SKINS, has reportedly filed for bankruptcy in Switzerland where the company is now based.

A Trustee will be appointed to assume responsibility for the company with almost immediate effect.

In a letter to his followers on Linkedin, SKINS Executive Chairman, Jaimie Fuller, advised of the causes that ultimately left the company unable to continue operating in its current state.

Fuller wrote "my management team and I have left no stone unturned in an effort to avoid this, I apologise unreservedly to all those affected by it.

“There have been many contributing factors, as well as mistakes I’ve made along the way.

“I’ve been open about some of those mistakes and I will not recount all of them, but they have nonetheless compounded one upon the other to get to this point.”

“What has brought us to this point really started 11 years ago.

“When the global financial crisis (GFC) hit in 2008, I sold a portion of SKINS to a private equity firm.

“I also made a lousy deal.

“When the GFC was over, I had to get out of the private equity arrangement.

“To do so, we borrowed heavily, and with the help of a Japanese partner, we managed to buy out the private equity shareholders.

“To my enormous regret, those borrowings have become unsustainable and while we have been working for some time now to try to avoid what is happening today, in the end, there was no choice.”

SKINS entire brand positioning was around ‘changing the world through sport’ and set out to help level the playing field on-and-off the field through championing important issues – competitive, fair, based on teamwork, good sportsmanship, dedication, commitment and integrity.

SKINS as a brand will not disappear; the brand will merely change ownership, and customers who love and already wear SKINS will still be able to buy the products.

The company was launched in Australia 23-years ago with the high-profile Fuller taking over ownership in 1998 when the business was in financial difficulty.