Without end 21, which a decade in the past was seen as a pacesetter in youth style retail, is ready to completely shut all its U.S. shops because it information for chapter for a second time.
The operator of Without end 21’s U.S. unit mentioned Sunday that international competitors from fast-fashion rivals, rising prices, financial challenges and evolving client traits had been accountable. In the meanwhile, shops and the corporate’s U.S. web site will stay open as the corporate begins winding down operations and seeks a last-minute bidder for its property.
Based in 1984 by Korean immigrants in California, Without end 21 grew to $1 billion in annual gross sales by 2005. The shop shortly turned a mall staple for millennials on the lookout for designer-inspired types, alongside fellow low-cost retailer H&M and the pricier Abercrombie & Fitch. Without end 21’s gross sales peaked at greater than $4 billion a decade later, and founders Jin Sook and Do Received “Don” Chang had been estimated to carry a mixed web price of $5.9 billion.
But because the 2010s wore on, the model started to be eclipsed by on-line rivals, together with ultra-cheap fast-fashion retailers like Shein that shipped their clothes to U.S. clients from abroad. On this surroundings, Without end 21’s reliance on foot site visitors at malls started to show a legal responsibility as clients more and more leaned into e-commerce.
Without end 21 filed for chapter for the primary time in 2019, hoping to turn into a extra environment friendly operation. However the Covid-19 pandemic solely accelerated the corporate’s woes, even because it was purchased out of chapter by Genuine Manufacturers, the operator of different main retailers and two main mall operators.
In a 2024 interview, the CEO of Genuine referred to as the acquisition of Without end 21 “most likely the largest mistake I made.”
Finally, right now’s youth demographic merely moved on from the Without end 21 model, specialists mentioned.
“Without end 21 was the model that the previous technology used,” mentioned Roger Beahm, a advertising and marketing professor and director of the Retail Studying Labs at Wake Forest College, informed the Los Angeles Occasions. “At the moment’s consumers need their very own model, they need their very own id.”
In its newest chapter submitting, Without end 21 listed property of between $100 million and $500 million and liabilities of $1 billion to $10 billion.
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