Via the ABC:
Australian-founded, Hong Kong-owned denim label Jeanswest is the latest retailer to enter voluntary administration, with the future of its 146 stores uncertain.
The company employs 988 staff in stores across all states and territories — including 40 stores in New South Wales, 32 stores in Victoria and 28 in Queensland.
Administrators from KPMG have been appointed and say Jeanswest will continue to operate as they consider “all options for the restructure or sale” of the business.
“Like many other retailers, the business has been challenged by current tough market conditions and pressure from online competition,” said James Stewart from KPMG.
Jeanswest opened its first store in Perth in 1972 and expanded to the east coast during the 1980s, before being bought by Hong Kong firm Glorious Sun in 1994.
The Jeanswest brand expanded overseas, into countries including China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Russia and Indonesia.
In 2017, the publicly-listed Glorious Sun sold the Australian operations to a private company called Howsea Limited, run by its chairman Charles Yeung and vice-chairman Yeung Chun Fan.
The administration only affects the Australian business.
This latest retail collapse follows Bardot’s announcement that 530 workers will lose their jobs as it shuts 58 stores over the next two months, while Harris Scarfe will close 21 stores and cut 440 jobs.
There will be many more as the Bad Santa brings nothing but pain.
