John Varvatos Enterprises Inc., a men’s fashion brand favored by rock stars and celebrities such as Dave Matthews and Ben Affleck, sought bankruptcy protection from creditors as the fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic derailed a corporate comeback effort, Bloomberg News reported. The New York-based company filed for chapter 11 as part of a plan to sell itself for an undisclosed amount to an affiliate of Lion Capital LLC, one of its creditors. Varvatos yesterday listed more than $140 million of debt in court filings in Delaware. In 2017, Varvatos sought to sell the chain to Authentic Brands Group — which owns Frederick’s of Hollywood — but Lion Capital, the company’s controlling investor, nixed the deal, according to the New York Post. Things got worse three years later when Nordstrom Inc. yanked some of Varvatos’s brands from its stores, resulting in a $2.6 million gross profit decline from 2018 to 2019. The company launched an internal reorganization, bringing in new management and pushing landlords to cut lease payments.
