The Global Economy Has Fallen Into A Downturn, And The Clothing Industry Has Launched A New Round Of "Closing Shop Tides".

According to the latest real-time statistical data from the World Health Organization, there are 3356205 confirmed cases of new crown pneumonia and 238730 deaths worldwide. Under the pressure of rising numbers, the global economy is in a doldrums. Since the outbreak of the epidemic, all walks of life have had a huge impact, especially in the apparel industry, and a new round of "closing shop tides" has been launched recently.

Winter is coming, fashion brands are everywhere.

H&M will permanently close eight stores in Italy.

Recently, the Swedish fast fashion brand H&M released the first quarter earnings report, as of the end of the reporting period has closed 3778 stores in 54 markets, resulting in a sharp decline in business revenue in the first quarter. It is understood that since Italy announced the ban on nationwide closure in March 10th, H & M has temporarily closed down all offline stores in 13 European countries or regions such as Italy, Poland, Spain, Bulgaria, Belgium, France, Austria and Luxemburg.

Meanwhile, according to Reuters recently, H&M Guan Xuan will close 8 stores in Italy. The company said the move was aimed at optimizing the combination of stores. Sales fell and growth slowed due to the impact of the epidemic. Closing the stores with poor performance was a solution for the group.

In addition to customs stores, GAP stopped paying 80 thousand people's wages.

GAP declined rapidly. The brand said in April 24th that GAP had temporarily closed down many retail stores in North America and many stores around the world in response to instructions from the government and public health authorities. Starting in April 2020, GAP will immediately suspend the rental of $115 million per month in North American stores. In the next 12 months, cash and expected cash generated from operations may not be sufficient to fund our operations. It also took 11 measures, including suspending more than 80 thousand employees' wages, or becoming the first fast fashion brand to fall.

Prior to that, GAP's brand Old Navy has announced that it formally withdrew from the Chinese market in March 1st and closed down all offline and online stores. It is understood that this is the GAP group's brand, has been operating in China for six years. The exit is to focus on the development of the North American market.

Zara closes half of the world's stores and plans to lay off 25 thousand people.

As one of the giants in the fast fashion field, ZARA is also deeply in the "closing shop boom". In the first half of March, the 2019 annual report released by Inditex, the parent of fast fashion brand Zara, showed that 50% of the world's stores were temporarily closed, that is, 3785 stores in 7469 of the world's stores had been temporarily closed, and sales fell 24.1% year-on-year.

In addition to closing stores, Inditex also plans to transform some of its fabric production lines into professional medical fabric production lines and consider temporarily cutting about 25 thousand stores in Spain.

Closing hundreds of stores and laying off tens of thousands of people, J.Crew collapsed.

On the 4 day of the local time, J.Crew, a well-known clothing retailer, formally filed for bankruptcy protection, becoming the first major retailer to apply for bankruptcy protection in the current round of the epidemic. It is understood that J.Crew was once a star brand in the retail industry. It was loved by city white-collar workers and attracted attention from former "first lady" Michel Obama.

Affected by the epidemic, J.Crew closed about 500 stores in March. The company has cut tens of thousands of employees and has decided not to pay the rent for April because of large revenue loss. The company originally hoped to raise funds by splitting sub brand listings, but the outbreak broke the plan and J.Crew had to file for bankruptcy protection.

The outbreak of the epidemic this year has also exacerbated the closing trend of sports brands.

Recently, Nike, Adidas and other famous international sports brands also released the first quarterly report. Both terminal retail giants are in the selling crisis. Nike stores in the United States are almost completely closed. Adidas Europe, North America, Latin America, emerging markets, Russia / CIS and most parts of the Asia Pacific region, almost all proprietary and dealer stores are temporarily closed, and wholesale and retail activities in the above markets are completely stagnant.

According to estimates by Clearing Corp's Gordon brothers, up to 25000 stores in the United States will face permanent closure this year. A real estate service company expects that by the end of 2021, stores in American department stores will be closed by half.  

Experts analyze that the longer the stores are closed, the greater the backlog will be, and the greater the discount will be. But no matter when these stores are reopened, they will face high unemployment, which means that these stores will not be able to sell goods at full price, and demand will also be affected. Many retailers are expected to fall.

Faced with severe forms, some clothing brands take measures such as closing stores and reducing staff members to increase revenue and reduce expenditure. This may be a new round of "shuffle" under the epidemic situation. It is believed that the garment industry will usher in a new pattern after the epidemic.