The holding company of Dutch shoe retailer Fred de la Bretoniere has applied for bankruptcy as sales continue to slide and efforts to find a strategic partner fail.

The shops and webshop will remain open while the curators attempt to put together a restart package, the AD said on Monday. No further comments about the bankruptcy are being made in the interest of those efforts, the company said.

Bretoniere Groep said the shoe sector has not benefited from the current wave of economic growth and that sales have gone down by 25% since the end of the economic crisis.

The company has a workforce of 115.