The company's investors called in administrators after efforts to make it more commercially viable had failed, administrator PwC said in a statement. (http://bit.ly/1WxSJDA)
The move could put about 2,000 jobs at risk.
Brantano UK is an out-of-town value family footwear retailer with 140 stores and 66 concessions across the UK. It is part of the pan-European brand Brantano, which trades under different ownerships in different countries.
Alteri Investors bought Brantano UK and Jones Bootmaker from struggling Dutch retailer Macintosh Retail (>> MACINTOSH RETAIL) for 17 million euros ($18 million) last October.
Macintosh Retail's administrators said earlier this week they were negotiating the sale of Brantano stakes in Belgium and Luxembourg.
"Like many others, Brantano has been hit hard by the change in consumers' shopping habits and the evolution of the UK retail environment," said Tony Barrell, lead administrator at PwC.
High Street shops across Europe have been struggling due to the rise of online retailers such as Amazon.com (>> Amazon.com, Inc.), which have managed to curry favour with web-savvy customers, particularly those born between 1980 and 2000.
As many as 25 companies failed in 2015, affecting 6,845 employees, data from Centre for Retail Research showed.
($1 = 0.9228 euros)
(Reporting by Esha Vaish in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)
