dELiA*s has filed for bankruptcy. Abercrombie & Fitch/Hollister is in trouble.

[randomness]

A comment thread about Zara in rednikki's LJ reminded me that I'd been putting together a post about fast fashion chains like H&M and Forever 21 pushing specialty teen clothing retailers out of business.

From The New York Times' Dealbook blog:

Unable to find a buyer or arrange a financial lifeline, Delia’s said on Friday that it would file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and seek to close all its stores and distribution centers. The company said it would aim to run going-out-of-business sales.

...

On Friday, Delia’s warned its shareholders that it “does not anticipate any value will remain from the bankruptcy estate.”

From The Wall Street Journal:

Delia’s news followed the bankruptcy filing Thursday by Deb Shops, whose 300 stores also were booming in the 1990s.

“When there’s one of these guys that’s kind of sick, it tends to infect all these guys,” Paul Lejuez, a Wells Fargo Securities analyst, said of the hypercompetitive environment teen retail environment.

From MarketWatch:

Teen retailers like Delia’s have struggled to compete with fast fashion players like H&M and pure online retailers that cater to millennial shoppers who increasingly do all their buying on the Web.

And from Business Insider:

But Eric Beder, specialty apparel analyst at Wunderlich Securities, said he believes Abercrombie is running out of options.

"What is going to turn the tide?" Beder asked in a note to clients. "Frankly, we have no idea."

Beder notes that Abercrombie has already exhausted numerous turnaround strategies, to no avail.

"Abercrombie has already aggressively closed domestic locations, cut back on inventories, shifted away from logo products, and cut costs," Beder writes.

The once-leading teen retailer has struggled to stay relevant since the surge in demand for fast-fashion brands like Forever 21 and H&M.

One of my fraternity siblings in Manhattan has a roommate who's in the industry and claims that "everything is fast fashion now". My friend and I agree this is hyperbole but there is clearly a sense in which fast fashion is setting the pace.

It's just a thought, but an overdose of fast fashion may be one driver behind the rise of vintage.

Comments

[digitalemur.livejournal.com]

Wow. I want to hear more about this, and I really want to see a discussion of that takedown of "one size fits all" because I glanced at it and didn't get the chance to dig in. And I just now had to look up Brandy Melville; I didn't know that name and I'm not sure why I didn't. Are they at my local mall and would I like them, I wonder?

I wonder if Forever 21 and H&M have also done a better job of figuring out the right look and feel for those little everyday pieces that underpin the flashier items in anyone's wardrobe. I pretty much live in a combination of H&M and Old Navy Men's v-neck basic t-shirts even if many days that t-shirt isn't a visible part of my wardrobe because I'm wearing it under another layer. The Old Navy ones are cheaper and I love their essential black v-neck t-shirts best but their other colors tend to be too bright and too "American" in color palette so I love my heathered, muddy t-shirt colors at H&M that I buy in piles.

Doesn't H&M have unisex changing rooms, too? I've noticed my local H&M employees were totally cool with a butch and possibly genderqueer chick digging in the men's t-shirts and could talk about fashion and gender-nonconformity with me while I was shopping (r_ness I believe you were there for that, remember? He was totally cool.) That one might be a pioneer valley thing, but I feel like I've seen articles recently about how millenial youth are pretty fed up with strong gender stereotyping in products, fashion and beauty anyway. (Which is delightful, because they're making life easier for me.)

Uh sorry for wordspamming you with questions and ideas here, it's just that my gender identity and body image stuff is REALLY kind of yelling for my attention lately and I wonder if these are ways in which youth culture is shifting to put its collective foot down about some of the same things that chafes me about some of these retailers? A&F is _exactly_ that retailer who only sells to dudebros and very feminine chicks and I think there may be a rise of backlash against that.

I bet the CEO of A&F is a Gamergater, too.... (I'm kidding but it's a funny idea.)

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

I believe you were there for that, remember? He was totally cool.

Wait, was that H&M? I could swear that was a different store.

And I just now had to look up Brandy Melville; I didn't know that name and I'm not sure why I didn't. Are they at my local mall and would I like them, I wonder?

Quick answer: Be warned, I think you'd hate them.

More detail on that when I get around to posting.