Australian fashion designer Kym Ellery has broken her silence four years after moving overseas and leaving behind a debt of more than $2.6 million dollars to a bunch of creditors.
In 2019, she closed her company Ellery Land and liquidated the business. As a result, a heap of tailors, jewellery makers, fabric mills, and modeling agencies weren’t paid for their work. Despite the money owed, Ellery moved overseas and has seen success rebuilding her business in Paris.
Now, Ellery has finally addressed the money she owes here in Australia in an in-depth interview with ABC News.
“Just because you’re in another country doesn’t mean you’re running away from something,” she said.
“I’m not hiding from Ellery Land closing, and I don’t expect anyone to feel sorry for me either.”
While Ellery denies any claims of financial misconduct she says that the collapse of the company came down to a number of factors out of her control. However, she takes “full and absolute responsibility” for all the decisions her company made.
“I was told the company was profitable up until the last moments. Unfortunately, there were some data entry errors made by the team into the system, and there were problems in having accuracy,” she explained.
According to the ABC, Ellery feels that she’s been victimised by the way the media has reported on her story.
“It’s interesting, why female journalists are focusing on these female entrepreneurs failing,” she says.
“That’s a really toxic situation that we can see now in our society … what we really should be talking about is how do you get a young woman like me to take risks. We want young, talented, creative, young people to be unafraid to take risks.
Personally, I don’t think it’s sexist to report on the wrongdoings of women when it’s undoubtedly newsworthy.
“All I can say is that ultimately I was doing my best. The question is, you know, was I supposed to drown back in 2019 or am I allowed to have another go?”
Despite whether she’s allowed to or not, Ellery is currently running another successful business in Paris.
(Image Source: Getty / Victor VIRGILE, Gamma-Rapho)
