The British stylist Isabel Spearman in a dress made with Cefinn deadstock.
LONDON – Samantha Cameron is shutting Cefinn, the contemporary clothing label she founded in 2017, following years of losses. The unwind will be slow, with the web site and standalone stores on the King’s Road in Chelsea and Elizabeth Street in Belgravia continuing to sell the fall 2025 collection.
Cameron said in a statement Wednesday that after “eight amazing years of entrepreneurial highs and lows, I have decided not to present a spring/summer 2026 collection. As a result of this, I have begun the process of winding down the future operations at my fashion brand Cefinn.”
Britain’s former first lady, who founded the company after her husband, former prime minister David Cameron, left office, said she will continue to sell the fall 2025 collection and will be launching winter looks in late September.
Cameron said closing was a “very hard decision. I have had the immense good fortune of working with a team of brilliant, talented and dedicated colleagues. I am deeply grateful to them as well as my shareholders, suppliers, family and friends for their unstinting support and friendship throughout the inception and journey of Cefinn.”
As reported in 2022, Cefinn raised 1.2 million pounds in its latest round of funding from a private investor. According to sources, Cameron was reluctant to raise further funds, given Cefinn’s mounting losses.
“This was not a decision I have taken lightly, especially as we have recently seen strong trading figures. But, as a small company navigating the turbulence in the fashion wholesale sector, ongoing cost pressures and international trading restrictions, I have found it increasingly difficult to be certain that Cefinn can achieve the level of growth needed to reach a stable and profitable position,” she said.
She hopes her designs will “continue to live in the wardrobes of Cefinn fans for many seasons to come.”
It’s not an easy time to be an owner-entrepreneur here, given the new tariff regime in the U.S., Britain’s largest export market; the absence of tax-free shopping in the U.K.; sticky inflation and a Labour government that does not prioritize business.
Like many other fashion brands, Cefinn was also rocked by the closure of one of its biggest clients, Matches, in early 2024.
The brand had been notching strong double-digit sales growth, with revenues reaching 4.2 million pounds for the year ending Oct. 31, 2024. Losses before tax narrowed to 354,000 pounds, according to sources. Due to its size, Cefinn is exempt from filing annual accounts at Companies House in the U.K.
Over the past eight years, Cefinn attracted celebrity clients including the Princess of Wales, her mother Carole Middleton, Queen Camilla and Gillian Anderson.
The brand’s glamorous pussy bow blouses featured big in the Netflix series “Anatomy of a Scandal,” which starred Sienna Miller as the vengeful wife of a scandal-prone member of parliament.
The Cefinn Daphne dress.
Cameron, who served as creative director of Smythson earlier in her career, drew on her experience in the public eye and as an ambassador for the British Fashion Council.
The brand specializes in day-to-night dressing, and more than half of the collection — from the knitwear to the silk tops — is machine washable. The clothes are also built to travel, with most of the fabrics wrinkle-free.
From the get-go, Cameron put the accent on dresses, which she has always designed to be worn with sneakers or heels. She later expanded into knitwear and shirts. True to Cameron form, every piece is practical. Her sweaters are made from animal-friendly, non-mulesed merino wool. They’re also washable and don’t pill.
She works sustainably, with fabrics such as organic cotton poplin and voile, Lenzing Ecovero fibers and recycled polyester. She eliminated plastic from Cefinn’s packaging, while garment labels are made from recycled yarns. She’s working on sourcing sustainable buttons and other trims.
With Cefinn, Cameron channelled her love of fashion as well as commerce, a passion that runs in the family. Her mother, Lady Annabel Astor, is a serial entrepreneur, cofounder of home interiors company Oka, and a jewelry designer.
“I’m a retailer — I love the 360 degrees of it — the marketing, selling, cash flow, customer service,” Cameron told WWD in 2016, shortly before launching Cefinn. “Once you’ve got the bug, everything feels boring in comparison.”