Liquidators of Hong Kong-based fashion group Trinity are seeking bids for UK tailor Gieves & Hawkes after the group went into liquidation last year, according to Bloomberg. 

The sale includes Gieves & Hawkes’ UK business and its Greater China operations and licensing agreements. The source said liquidators eyes finding a buyer for the UK brand in the third quarter of this year. 

The 251-year-old fashion brand was bought by Trinity in 2012 for US$38.7 million together with US$71.1 million in earnout payments. As of May last year, the brand has 58 stores across 25 cities, the majority of them in China. 

Trinity was purchased for US$283.88 million in 2017 by Chinese textile manufacturer Shandong Ruyi Technology Group, whose ambition is to become LVMH of China. Shandong Ruyi is also the owner of Aquascutum and Renown. The company has recently lost control of the US fibre maker Lycra. 

The company appointed liquidators from FTI Consulting and R&H Services to assess Trinity’s financial situation last year, which threaten to shut Gieves and Hawkes, and its sister brands Kent & Curwen and Cerutti. 

Gieves & Hawkes was once the preferred tailor of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.