American Apparel closes 12 U.K. locations before 2017

Los Angeles - As American Apparel has been going through the motions of their bankruptcy, the Los Angeles-based retailer has predicted closing some of its U.K. locations. As of Friday, December 23, it seems that the basics apparel company has closed most of its stores, as currently there is only one operating location left.

The last store open is off of Camden High Street in London, which doesn’t at the moment have a confirmed closure date. As reported by WWD, the U.K. subsidiary is down to this one single store, where approximately twelve other stores have closed recently. The closure results in 147 jobs lost, with only 31 employees remaining at the Camden location. Locations that closed down in the U.K. include cities such as Nottingham, Glasgow, Leeds, Bristol and Brighton.

These stores closed even though they were located in some of London’s busiest shopping areas, including Oxford Street and Carnaby Street. The stores had blow out sales for their remaining days in business, with signs stating “at least 70 percent off of everything” for the clothing. Merchandise was retailed at a fifth of its original price, according to Metro.co.uk. The last standing store is set to remain open through January, Jim Tucker, joint administrator and restructuring partner at KPMG, said in a statement. “Over the last seven weeks, we have carried out our intention to trade all of the stores on a short-term basis in order to sell the stock and realise value for the creditors,” he said.

KPMG was hired recently to help with the administration process for American Apparel’s U.K. business. According to WWD, the stores were originally supposed to stay open through the holiday season, although the process of selling the stores was always in motion.

One U.K. American Apparel store remains after closing 12 locations

While the last store remains open, the head office as well as the remaining 31 employees will keep their jobs. Considering that most of its U.K. branch has closed, it’s likely that the Camden location will not surpass January in staying open.

Currently, Canadian manufacturer Gildan Activewear is still set to takeover American Apparel and its intellectual assets. Gildan is purchasing the Los Angeles apparel company for 66 million dollars and taking on its stocks. American Apparel has known that as part of its deal, the new company would most likely not take over all of its existing stores. Due to this, the retailer decided to shutter its under-performing locations, which mostly resided in the U.K. American Apparel has also closed nine of its stores in the U.S. as well, including these cities: Evanston, Illinois; Seattle, Washington; Atlanta, Georgia; Santa Cruz, California; New York, New York; Burlington, Vermont; Dallas, Texas; Memphis, Tennessee; and Washington, D.C.

Due to the fact that this is American Apparel’s second bankruptcy filing in recent years, it’s not surprising that the company is going through drastic changes and mass closures to keep its deal with Gildan in order. As for any remaining stores of American Apparel, any of the locations that are not sold in the bankruptcy auction are set to close by April 2017.

Photo: American Apparel