The brand – famous for its posh wellies – said talks over an emergency cash-call with investors including its founder Tom Joule were unsuccessful and have ended.

It said it would file a notice of intention to appoint Interpath Advisory as administrators to the firm and its subsidiaries, including online home and garden retailer The Garden Trading Company, “as soon as reasonably practicable”.

Joules said: “The board is taking this action to protect the interests of its creditors.”

The firm will suspend trading of its shares on the stock market due to the decision, adding that further announcements will be made “in due course”.

It is expected to formally appoint administrators in the next five to 10 working days, but stressed that its stores and websites are continuing to trade as normal.

The Leicestershire-based chain employs around 1,600 staff and has over 130 shops.

Joules is the latest retailer to hit the buffers after online furniture business Made.com collapsed last week, with rival Next buying up its brand, websites and intellectual property.

Around 1,600 jobs are under threat after fashion retailer Joules revealed it is set to appoint administrators following a failure to secure a vital cash injection.

The deal led to 320 redundancies at Made, while a further 79 employees who had already resigned and were working out their notice were forced to leave the business immediately.

Next had also been in talks with Joules over a deal to buy a minority stake in the business, but discussions between the two collapsed in September.

Joules poised to collapse into administration putting 1,600 jobs at risk