Administrators have been appointed to oversee the likely winding down of American Apparel’s UK operations.
The struggling retailer, which has 183 UK staff, has brought in KPMG to sell off its 13-strong UK store estate.
KPMG joint administrator and restructuring partner Jim Tucker said: “The American Apparel group has been experiencing strong retail headwinds, which has culminated in the US parent deciding to stop inventory shipments to the UK.
“The UK business has experienced similar trading difficulties, resulting in the appointment of administrators.”
The UK stores are “well stocked” and will “continue to trade as usual in the lead up to the peak Christmas trading period”, KPMG added.
The US business is in the process of being sold, but the UK operations and “certain” European divisions will not be part of the sale.
All UK stores will continue to trade in the run-up to Christmas, before the sale of sites kicks off.
KPMG stressed that “no redundancies” have yet to be made.
Paula Schneider was appointed group boss to engineer a turnaround of the ailing business but resigned last month amid reports of the sale.
At the time, Schneider pointed to the company’s debts and “macroeconomic headwinds in retail, that have proven challenging for American Apparel along with most other specialty retailers in the US”.
American Apparel has eight London stores in addition to branches in Brighton, Bristol, Nottingham, Glasgow and Leeds.
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