Pumpkin Patch's stores may have shut down, but the name will live on online.
An Australian online retailer has bought the brand, with plans to launch a new collection this winter.
Dozens of Pumpkin Patch stores across New Zealand and Australia closed after receivers failed to find a buyer. Photo: Flickr / Jason Hutchens
Pumpkin Patch went into receivership in October last year and more than 500 workers at 36 shops lost their jobs.
Retailer Catch Group said the price it paid for the failed children clothing retail brand and intellectual properties was confidential, but described it as substantial. There was a lot of competition, it said.
Catch Group chief executive Nati Harpaz said he loved the brand and dressed his children in Pumpkin Patch clothing.
"Our plan is really to take it back into the market. We couldn't let it disappear," he said.
"We've hired a few designers. We are going to go back to the market around the end of June, July. We are working on some really cool designs now."
He said the new range would initially be offered on Pumpkin Patch-branded websites in New Zealand and Australia, as well as Catch Group's existing retail sites in Australia.
He said Catch Group had longer-term plans to open physical retail stores in key locations.
Spat over redundancies
Meanwhile, the union representing hundreds of sacked Pumpkin Patch staff says the brand is being harmed by its failure to pay redundancy to some workers.
Retail staff received redundancy payments of about $23,000, but the company's structure meant about 200 head office and distribution centre workers did not.
First Union said the brand's creditor, ANZ Bank, could improve the public's view of Pumpkin Patch by paying out the remaining staff.
