The move by Dušan Gomboc, Aha Mura's technical director, saved Aha Mura in the last minute: according to law the company would have had to cease operations in its existing form a year after it formally entered bankruptcy.

Gomboc's company Arum has leased the premises, machinery and brand and the company's bankruptcy administrator, Stevo Radovanović, has told the STA the company has enough orders to continue operating.

It is as yet unclear what the move means for the company's long-term prospects. Some clarity will be provided by the end of September, when the bankruptcy administrator plans to put the Aha Mura production facilities for sale.

It is believed the asking price at what will be the fourth auction of the assets will be set at EUR 2.3m, half of the original asking price at the first auction.

This is but the latest chapter in Mura's long and painful demise. Once a regional giant and with thousands of workers the biggest employer in north-eastern Slovenia, the company started down a long spiral of demise after the break-up of Yugoslavia.

For years the majority state-owned company it was held on life support by injections of state aid, but it finally declared insolvency in October 2009.

The bulk of the company, best known for its high-end suits and coats, was closed down but a smaller portion remained operational and continued to produce clothing for major global brands.

Entrepreneur Mojca Lukančič bought the surviving company in 2011, with the help of generous tax subsidies, but the company, now renamed Aha Mura, declared bankruptcy in mid-2014.

A total of EUR 116.5m in claims had been reported by 71 creditors in the Aha Mura bankruptcy proceedings, of which EUR 31.7m has been admitted by the bankruptcy administrator.