Australia's retail sector continues to suffer from the economic downturn, with high-end clothing store Satch as the latest victim. Satch Clothing was placed under administration on Thursday.

Appointed joint administrators of the men's and women's fashion chain were BDO partners Stephen Robert Dixon and Laurence Andrew Fitzgerald. The two said they will continue to run Satch's 14 outlets in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth.

However, they are open to receive expressions of interest for potential buyers of Satch, owned by Jim Satch.

The chain has about 60 employees, but it is still not clear how many jobs would be affected by the financial difficulties of Satch since the clothes it sells are designed and made in Australia.

Satch owes creditors $1.2 million and a substantial amount to two large banks and the tax office.

"There has been a decline in sales, but we are in the process of investigating what has caused that decline," Mr Dixon told the Herald Sun.

Satch is on of the growing list of retailers in Australia that have shuttered in 2011. The list includes Colorado, Brown Sugar, Borders and Bettina Llano. Analysts have warned that if conditions in the retail industry would worsen further, there would be more bankruptcies.

The weak retail sale environment caused by consumers holding on to their purses is expected to result also in a 10 per cent decline in rental outlooks. Those at the highest risk are specialty stores since they pay higher rents in shopping malls compared to anchor stores of department store chains.

"We expect the most likely time frame for material bankruptcy risk would be February 2012," Deustche Bank researcher Matthew Bertram was quoted by the Sydney Morning Herald.

"While for David Jones the sales clearance period in June-July is a significant profit driver, for a number of specialty tenants the Christmas trading period will likely be the key contributor to profit," Bertram added.