Tully Lou says ‘everything has to go’ as it shuts down after 14 years

An Australian activewear brand worn by the stars will close after 14 years due to challenging market conditions.

Melbourne-based Tully Lou, which promoted itself as “one of the original sportsluxe activewear brands”, has announced to customers online that “everything has to go”.

“This chapter is changing. Maybe this is a pause. Maybe it’s a reinvention. Maybe we’ll be back in a different way,” it said.

“But right now, we know one thing: Everything has got to go.”

Founded in 2012, Tully Lou garnered international attention when a pair of its leggings were famously worn by Victoria’s Secret model Gigi Hadid at a gym in New York.

“Since 2014 Tully Lou has become an international leader in activewear being stocked in some of the world’s most renowned department stores,” the company said on its website.

“With the expansion, the brand has collected a following of loyal customers along with celebrities who have been spotted in Tully Lou including Lucy Hale, Victorian Secret model Devon Windsor, Kelly Osbourne, Noah Cyrus, Vanessa Hudgens, Jenna Dewan, Ashley Greene and Morgan Riddle.”

Tully Lou’s chief operating officer Sarah Pasini and creative director Tully Humphrey previously discussed the challenges of running the brand in difficult trading conditions.

“It is so stressful and a lot of businesses don’t last two years,” an emotional Humphrey said during a February episode of their Curious Conversations podcast, acknowledging they were having “cash-flow issues”.

Pasini added: “At the moment things with Tully Lou are very hard.”

Speaking on the end of an era for the business, Pasini said there was “no one reason” for the call but believes a breather could allow the brand to make a return in the future and that “this isn’t a goodbye or permanent closure, it’s simply a pause”.

“The past two years, the reality of running a small business has become increasingly challenging,” she told the Herald Sun.

“Rising freight costs, changing margins, increased operating expenses and a highly saturated market have created pressures that many small businesses are experiencing right now.”

7NEWS.com.au has reached out to Tully Lou for comment.

‘Killing season’

The closure comes amid news of other famous names being wound down or experiencing closures.

June has been a particularly brutal month, with fashion retailer Glue to close all its remaining stores and its website for good after almost 30 years.

Beloved craft and fabric retailer Lincraft will shutter all shopfronts as it shifts to an online-only business model set to impact 300 staff, and Barbeques Galore will close dozens of stores across Australia.

Queensland University of Technology retail marketing and consumer behaviour expert Gary Mortimer said June is always a tough month for businesses, with board looking at the books, forecasting what they will deliver and how they can reduce costs.

“I often refer to it as the killing season,” Mortimer told 7NEWS.com.au.

“Really by the third quarter, most executive leadership teams and boards will have a clear understanding of what’s going to happen at the end of the financial year.

“You expect that budgets would have had benchmarks in place, and they’d be making some pretty big decisions.

“This is true for all businesses — retail’s particularly susceptible at the moment because it’s so highly exposed to discretionary spending.

“When interest rates go up, when rents go up, when electricity bills and cost of living prices costs go up, families become more concerned about putting food on the table, putting fuel in the car, paying those utilitiy bills and rents and mortgages.

“They’re less concerned about buying a new fridge, buying a new outdoor setting, buying a new coat for winter.”