Fashion Brands And Retailers Who Filed For Bankruptcy Protection In The Past 40 Years

Facing the challenges brought by the persistent global geopolitical and economic shocks,

Brands and retailers can hardly escape tradition.

Mechanisms, survival of the fittest, closet, restructuring and bankruptcy have become the most common keywords of brands and retailers.

According to the world clothing and shoe net, there are nearly 10 fashion trends in the first half of this year alone.

Or retailers submitted bankruptcy applications, including New York designer brand Bibhu Mohapatra, women's clothing retailer The Limited, Wet Seal and the latest bankruptcy filing Rue21, etc., are alerting the industry, the fashion retail industry's winter continues.

According to the analysis, the fashionable retailers who apply for bankruptcy are generally exposed to the pressure of rapid development of fast fashion brands. They also tolerate the retail giants like WAL-MART and Target to divide up almost saturated fashion retail market. With the recent development of Amazon in the fashion industry, the challenges of fashion retailers will become more severe in the future.

Bankruptcy protection is a legal procedure. It is an alternative solution to enterprise bankruptcy.

In the United States, the eleventh chapter of the United States Code is also known as the "eleventh chapter bankruptcy protection". Debtors, including legal persons and natural persons, have the right to propose financing and reorganization plans within 120 days after filing for bankruptcy protection, so that enterprises still have the opportunity to continue their operations, or to find companies intending to take over their business or assets, so as to avoid the direct bankruptcy of creditors to enterprises and the "Administration" in the United Kingdom.

Usually, the debtor still owns the brand after filing bankruptcy protection, and will operate under the supervision of the court and creditors.

The debtor can also evade certain payments or purchases that occurred during the period before bankruptcy.

The usual period is 90 days, but the payment or gift to friends, family members or company insiders has a one year period (or longer, depending on which state applies for bankruptcy).

Certain payments can be returned to the debtor and controlled according to the terms of the reorganization plan.

This prevents debtors from manipulating their assets and giving priority to certain creditors.

Below, the reporter has compiled the fashion brands and retailers who applied for bankruptcy protection in the past 40 years:

1977 - Tommy Hilfiger

Before Tommy Hilfiger created the brand of the same name and was well known to the public, he launched another brand People's Place in 1971. Because Tommy Hilfiger did not understand management and experience at that time, he only focused on design but did not know how to operate. After 6 years, Tommy Hilfiger had no choice but to apply for bankruptcy.

Then he began to learn how to manage enterprises, learn to look at balance sheets, and put forward a way to establish business in limited budgets.

In 1985, with the support of Murjani group, Tommy Hilfiger made a comeback and established its own brand name. In March 2010, Tommy Hilfiger was purchased by CK parent company PVH at a price of 3 billion US dollars, which was 7 times higher than that of PVH group's purchase of CK in 2003.

At present, Tommy Hilfiger is still the creative director of its namesake brand, and is responsible for leading the whole design team and creative work.

In the first quarter of April 30th, Tommy Hilfiger sales increased by 6% to $842 million, or 45% of total sales.

Emanuel Chirico, chief executive of PVH group, said the group is optimistic about the development potential of CK and Tommy Hilfiger's two brands. It is estimated that sales of CK and Tommy Hilfiger in China will double in five years.

1989 - Fiorucci

Fiorucci is a fashion brand founded by designer Elio Fiorucci in Italy in 1967. It filed for bankruptcy in 1989. It was bought by Italy cowboy group Carrera SpA. It was bought by Japanese jeans brand Edwin Co. Ltd in 1990 for $41 million.

At present, Elio Fiorucci has been dead for nearly two years. In October 2016, Edwin Co.Ltd and Fiorucci brands were still fighting for the right to use Fiorucci name, because according to the designer's will, the name would not be owned by Edwin Co. Ltd after its death.

Nevertheless, the brand's spring 2017 series has been re launched in the market.

January 1992 - Messi department store

When filing the bankruptcy petition, Messi Department lost $1 billion 250 million in the past financial year, mainly related to the cost of large-scale restructuring and closing scheme.

At present, Messi's department store has returned to the position of the largest department store in the United States, but the prospect is still not optimistic.

It is reported that Messi department stores will cut 10000 jobs this year, that is, 4% of the total number of employees, and will close 60 stores to enhance the profitability of the group.

It is noteworthy that Canadian Department Store Hudson's Bay is planning to buy Messi general merchandise.

January 1994 - JNCO

JNCO is a Cowboy brand, famous for its wide legged jeans. Within a few months of filing bankruptcy applications, it closed all 1500 stores of its brand, becoming one of the largest retail bankruptcies in history.

In 2015, JNCO decided to reopen its business. Now it is the flagship leisure product. It is reported that creative inspiration from Demna Gvasalia, a creative director of the company, is also from the brand.

May 1999 - Loehmanns's (first bankruptcy)

The US Department store chain Loehmann 's was founded in 1921 by Frieda Loehmann and Charles Loehmann, and was applied for bankruptcy in 1999 and closed 25 stores in 2000.

Before the acquisition of Whippoorwill Associates, it belonged to the Dubai sovereign fund Istithmar.

January 2001 - Converse

Converse announced bankruptcy protection in early 2001, plans to close three North American production plants, will lay off 1000 workers, and shift production lines to cheaper labor in Asia.

The chairman and chief executive officer Glenn Rupp believes that although the sales performance of Converse is strong, the group's lawsuit after the acquisition of ApexOne in 1995 continued, and the global sports shoes market suffered from Waterloo from 1998 to 1999, which made Converse overburdened.

In July 2003, Nike group bought Converse for $309 million and repositioned the brand. At present, the main product of the brand has extended from shoes to fashion, clothing and accessories.

In 2015, the Nike group said it would invest about $2 billion a year to Converse, and has been fighting against all kinds of trademark infringement and counterfeit and inferior products.

February 2008 - Heatherette

Daymond John, the founder of Fubu, acquired Heatherette in 2000 and injected 6 million US dollars into it. But he and the founder of Traver Rains and Richie Rich still can not save the brand's declining trend. The creative director, Per John, has consistently insisted on making advanced customization but neglected the series of garments with more commercial value, which eventually reduced the application of the patent to bankruptcy.

December 2008 - Bill Blass

Bill Blass submitted the seventh chapter of bankruptcy law in the United States, that is, bankruptcy liquidation, mainly because the departure of Peter Som, the brand creative director, made the retailer lose interest in the brand, while the parent company NexCen was also in serious danger at that time.

Subsequently, Bill Blass was acquired by Peacock International group. In October 2014, designer Chris Benz was appointed the brand creative director. At present, Bill Bass has been pformed into a fashion brand based on e-commerce, and is sold on Amazon and the official website.

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February 2009 - Gianfranco Ferre

Italy brand Gianfranco Ferre was bought 90% by Tonino Perna holding IT in 2002, while Gianfranco Ferre was appointed creative director until 2007.

At present, the brand is basically supported by sub line products, such as perfume, Ferre Milano clothing and accessories.

May 2009 - Christian Lacroix

Initially, all Christian Lacroix of LVMH group has been losing money every year since its establishment in 1987.

LVMH group originally planned to build the brand as a luxury handbag brand or luxury perfume brand, but Christian Lacroix has never been representative of handbag products or perfume products.

So LVMH group sold it to Falic group in 2005.

After taking over, Falic group rebuilt Christian Lacroix according to its original high-end positioning, and canceled two more popular but profitable line Jeans and Bazar, while improving the price of garments series products.

According to Forbes's data, after 22 years of struggle, Christian Lacroix finally submitted bankruptcy proceedings to the French bankruptcy court.

At present, Christian Lacroix is mainly engaged in consulting and other intermediary services for designers of top European cultural institutions, while selling Christian Lacroix brand household products to maintain daily operation, but no longer sells clothing products.

August 2009 - Escada

After losing 70 million euros in the 2007/2008 fiscal year, the Escada deficit expanded further. Chief executive Markus Schuerholz announced in early 2008 that Escada would go bankrupt, and Escada failed to get enough support in August 2009, and Escada filed for bankruptcy.

At present, the creative director of the German brand is Daniel Wingate, the latest early autumn Series in 2017.

October 2009 - Yohji Yamamoto Yamamoto Teruji

As Japanese female consumers gradually tended to buy cheap casual wear in the global economic crisis, Yamamoto Teruji sales began to slide, suffered financial difficulties, and once committed $76 million in debt, finally filed for bankruptcy protection in Japan in October 2009.

At present, Yamamoto Teruji regularly displays new products during the fashion week in Paris, and sells them in the three retail business platforms such as Farfetch, Lyst and FWRD in retail stores all over the world.

April 2010 - Rock & Republic

Rock & Republic submitted the bankruptcy petition mainly through reorganizing to ease the pressure on its balance sheet, when assets were between 10 million and 50 million dollars, and liabilities were about 50 million to 100 million dollars.

At present, the brand has signed a long-term licensing agreement with Vans VF parent group, which is specially sold in the chain store Kohl's of the United States.

November 2010 - Loehmann's (second bankruptcy)

After the failure to renew the Dubai sovereign fund Istithmar and the loss of 20 stores, the United States chain department store Loehamnn's again applied for bankruptcy protection, and then bought and reorganized by Whippoorwill Associates.

April 2012 - Aquascutum

Founded in London in 1851, Aquascutum, once famous for its luxury brand Burberry, was introduced into bankruptcy protection in 1990. It was bought by Hongkong YGM Trading group in 2009. Due to its slow improvement, it was purchased by Shandong Ruyi group for $120 million last year.

Data show that Aquascutum began to sell in 2015 and fell continuously, closing 14 stores in China and opening 1 new stores in Europe.

August 2012 - Betsey Johnson

Betsey Johnson founded its namesake brand in 1978, but after 5 years in a stalemate and filed for bankruptcy, she said that all this may be related to the store's start selling 49 dollars of cheap clothes, because Betsey Johnson has only 250 dollars for a tuxedo, and has no advantage in price.

Steve Madden, partner of Betsey Johnson, said that Betsey Johnson overestimated its capabilities, and the store network was too large, eventually closing down 63 stores under rent pressure.

In 2013, Betsey Johnson returned to New York fashion week and released its new series.

It is reported that the new series will be sold at the reasonable price in official website and Messi department store, and will occupy market share with department store retailers.

July 2013 - Nicole Farhi

Three years after the establishment of the brand, Nicole Farhi and Steven Marks sold the brand Far Far they founded together and filed for bankruptcy in the UK.

According to Peter Saville, partner of Zolfo Cooper, like other fashion retail brands, with the emergence of high street fast fashion brands and rising costs, Nicole Farhi is facing great financial pressure. At present, Nicole Farhi does not own its own stores, but sells on Harvey Nichols department stores and its own brand official website.

December 2013 - Loehmann's (third bankruptcy)

The US Department Store Loehmann's finally submitted third bankruptcy applications, cancelled a large number of orders due to shortage of funds, and made large-scale layoffs at headquarters.

Steven Newman, the group's chief executive, said it had renovated stores to attract more young consumers, but with little success and a backlog of stocks.

July 2014 - Love Culture

Founded in 2007, Love Culture was founded by Forever 21 former executive Jai Rhee and Benett Koo, focusing on women consumers aged 18 to 35.

After filing the bankruptcy petition, the brand now owns 82 retail stores in the United States.

According to the relevant documents submitted, Love Culture plans to close its deficit stores and carry out debt restructuring during the bankruptcy process. At present, the brand has been pformed into an online retailer.

December 2014 - dEliA*s

The brand was also a clothing retailer. It was declared bankrupt in 2014 by the impact of the downturn in the department store environment and the change of consumer demand. Now it has been pformed into an online retailer, selling its own products only on the official website.

December 2014 - Deb Stores

Deb Stores has filed for bankruptcy because of a shortage of funds. Dawn Robertson, group chief executive, said that Deutsche Bank's recent funding has been very tense due to various factors. Therefore, Deb Stores has not been able to get enough funds to renovate stores to cope with fierce competition in the market.

At present, Deb Stores has also been pformed into an online retailer, selling products only on the official website.

January 2015 - Wet Seal (first bankruptcy)

In 2015, in the face of the rapid rise of H&M, Forever 21 and other fast fashion brands, the American youth clothing brand Wet Seal was unable to compete in the fierce market, but closed 388 stores, accounting for 67% of the total.

3 months after filing the bankruptcy petition, it was bought by private equity fund Versa, and continued to operate the remaining 173 stores and expand its online business.

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February 2015 - Cache

Cache, a 40 year old women's clothing retailer, said in its bankruptcy application that Salus Capital Partners LLC committed to provide up to $22 million in bankruptcy protection financing. Its assets were about 10 million to 50 million dollars at the time, and liabilities were about 50 million to 100 million US dollars, with 218 stores and 2652 employees.

At present, Cache has closed all its stores and stopped production.

March 2015 - Karmaloop

The US street corner Karmaloop has been saddled with millions of debts and bad business investments when it filed for bankruptcy. Kanye West and Dame Dash also said there was a takeover intention, but eventually failed to surpass the $13 million bid of Comvest Capital of West Palm Beach.

The brand CEO Greg Selkoe will continue to serve as a consultant in the company after being acquired.

April 2015 - Frederick's of Hollywood

The American underwear brand Frederick 's of Hollywood has finally applied for bankruptcy after years of struggle, then closed all stores and pferred all businesses to online sales.

It is reported that the brand has never had a profit quarter since 2007, with assets of 36 million 500 thousand US dollars and liabilities of US $106 million.

September 2015 - Quiksilver

Quiksilver, a top sports goods retailer, filed for bankruptcy reorganization in September 2015 and left bankruptcy in February 2016.

Over the past two years, the brand has cleared more than $90 million in surplus inventories, streamlined distribution channels, and cut costs. Although restructuring costs are huge, it has yet to turn a profit, but it is close to balance.

At present, the brand has been renamed Boardriders.

October 2015 - American Apparel (first bankruptcy)

American Apparel announced in August 2015 that it would not be able to maintain its operation for the next 12 months due to a shortage of funds, so it filed its bankruptcy application for the first time in October.

It is reported that American Apparel has not been profitable since 2009. In the face of increasingly high labor costs and increasingly fierce market competition, American Apparel will seek loan guarantor and implement restructuring plan.

December 2015 - Tamara Mellon

Jimmy Choo co-founder Tamara Mellon founded the same name accessory brand in 2013 after leaving Jimmy Choo, and is on sale on Net-a-Porter.

After filing the bankruptcy petition at the end of 2015, it was launched in the middle of last year and is now being sold on its own brand official website.

January 2016 - Joyce Leslie

Facing the increasingly fierce market competition and the rise of e-commerce, Joyce Leslie, an American clothing retailer, began to seek buyers to avoid liquidation and submitted bankruptcy applications after a sharp decline in sales.

Eventually no buyer was willing to buy the brand, and Joyce Leslie closed all stores in February last year.

April 2016 - Pacific Sunwear

Because Pacific Sunwear can not keep up with consumers' demand for fashion, and excessive expansion leads to insufficient funds, it has continued to record losses since 2008. After filing for bankruptcy in April last year, it acquired new funds and re entered the market after restructuring. At present, the brand's e-commerce business has been improved.

May 2016 - Aeropostale

The brand, like other mid-range brands, was hit hard by the rapid rise of brands such as H&M, Zara and Forever 21. After filing the bankruptcy petition, it not only closed down from the New York stock exchange, but also closed more than 100 stores.

At present, the brand has been restored to operation after investing $243 million in Simon Property group and General Growth Properties, but the number of stores has decreased from 800 in the peak to 229.

November 2016 - Nasty Gal

Over the past 10 years, Nasty Gal, an American fashion business provider, has filed for bankruptcy reorganization in November last year after two major layoffs and a shortage of funds. Its founder, Sophia Amoruso, will leave.

At present, Nasty Gal has been bought by British fashion dealer Boohoo.com at a price of US $20 million.

November 2016 - American Apparel (second bankruptcy)

In less than a year, American Apparel filed for bankruptcy protection for the second time. It was mainly influenced by the fierce competition among us youth clothing brands, the rise of fashion business providers and continuous losses.

Subsequently, Gildan Activewear, a Canadian clothing manufacturer, successfully purchased American Apparel for $88 million in cash.

December 2016 - Yogasmoga

The American sportswear brand Yogasmoga was originally a pure online retailer. In 2015, it opened two entity stores and expanded rapidly to 10. Due to over expansion, the brand founder attached great importance to quality, resulting in Yogasmoga being unable to make ends meet and could only submit bankruptcy applications.

At present, the brand has closed all retail outlets except Santiago stores, while streamlining its e-commerce business.

January 2017 - Bibhu Mohapatra

New York designer Bibhu Mohapatra said its brand of the same name would continue to operate after filing for bankruptcy. He believed that the company's attraction to investors would be greatly increased after debt restructuring.

In February this year, the brand took part in the fashion week of New York and released the autumn 2017 series.

January 2017 - The Limited

The Limited, an American clothing retailer, signed an asset purchase agreement with Affiliated Companies, a private equity firms Sycamore Partners, to sell its intellectual property and related assets after filing the bankruptcy petition.

The acquisition has yet to be approved by the bankruptcy court.

Previously, The Limited has closed all its 250 stores and dismissed more than 4000 employees.

February 2017 - Wet Seal (second bankruptcy)

According to the court documents submitted by Wet Seal, after clearing 177 unprofitable stores and online businesses, the total amount of liquidation amounted to more than $15 million, of which the sale of fixtures and furniture at headquarters and most stores increased its revenue by $607 thousand.

The company failed to apply for bankruptcy in February and is now trying to find new sources of capital to finance its continued operation.

March 2017 - BCBG Max Azria

American designer brand BCBG Max Azria has lost 10 million US dollars in the 2016 fiscal year because its products can not keep pace with the change of consumer demand, resulting in a loss of 120 poorly managed stores.

At present, the lender is willing to contribute $45 million to help maintain the operation costs during the bankruptcy reorganization, but it is subject to court approval.

March 2017 - Gordman's Stores

Gordman's Stores, a clothing and housewares retailer, said the company has applied for eleventh chapter bankruptcy protection to the Nebraska bankruptcy court.

The company operates 106 stores in 22 states across the United States.

Gordman Stores has signed a liquidation agreement with its Tiger Capital Group and Great American Group for its retail and distribution center inventory and other assets.

The company's chief executive, Andy Hall, said in a statement that stores will remain open as usual.

March 2017 - Karen Millen

According to the latest news from the British media, the designer Karen Millen has invested in a Mauritius plan designed to avoid tax. However, it was questioned by the British tax authorities and asked Karen Millen to pay 6 million of the tax and fees, which was affected by the continuing downturn in the brand management situation. Karen Millen was unable to bear the cost and announced bankruptcy recently.

April 2017 - Payless

Payless Shoesource, an American footwear chain, filed for bankruptcy protection in the US court in April this year to restructure its North American business and Hongkong based logistics and supply chain businesses.

The company will close nearly 400 branches in the United States and Puerto Rico, and plan to cut half of its debt and invest in online businesses.

The agreement between the company and a number of financial institutions will be raised by US $385 million during the restructuring period, and the terms will be refunded for us $80 million debt.

Payless Shoesource currently has 4400 branches in more than 30 countries worldwide.

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April 2017 - Agent Provocateur

Agent Provocateur, a high-end underwear brand, has filed a bankruptcy petition in the United States, with assets ranging from $1 million to $10 million, with liabilities ranging from $10 million to $50 million.

The company aims to maintain its US regional business through bankruptcy protection and sell its 12 US stores to Four Holdings group.

Four Holdings Group acquired the high-end underwear brand in Britain for $38 million in March, and plans to enter the luxury industry. However, the acquisition does not include Agent Provocateur's business in the US region.

April 2017 - Jaeger

According to the world clothing and shoe net, Jaeger, a long-term loss maker, has tried to sell the company at 30 million pounds, and has hired a well-known restructuring consulting finance company, AlixPartners LLP, as a consultant to apply for bankruptcy protection.

At present, mysterious buyers have bought about 7 million of Jaeger's debt.

Data show that Jaeger's revenue decreased by 7% to 78 million 400 thousand pounds in the previous fiscal year, and the pre tax loss was 5 million 400 thousand.

Jaeger currently has 46 stores and 63 franchise stores. Well-informed sources say that 680 employees will be unemployed.

May 2017 - Rue21

Rue21 has become the latest US youth clothing retail brand to apply for bankruptcy. According to its information submitted to the bankruptcy court, there are 1179 stores in the United States, and assets and liabilities are valued at between $1 billion and $10 billion.

Wells Fargo was listed as the largest unsecured creditor in the bankruptcy application, with a claim amount of up to US $239 million, which will expire in 2021.

Rue21 chief executive Melanie Cox said in a statement that the bankruptcy filing was intended to better integrate the existing resources of the group and centralization of funds to improve the retail business. It is expected that the bankruptcy reorganization will be completed this autumn.

More interesting reports, please pay attention to the world clothing shoes and hats net.