What had been apparent since August last year and was confirmed in the first half of the year also continued in the second half of the year: company bankruptcies continued to rise. Due to the economic downturn, increased interest rates and high energy prices, the Creditreform business agency estimates that 18,100 companies will have to file for bankruptcy by the end of the year, almost a quarter (23.5 percent) more than in the previous year.
Of course, the textile and clothing industry in German-speaking countries has not remained unaffected by this. FashionUnited has summarized which companies are currently affected.
bankruptcies
Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof
The biggest shake-up is currently the insolvency of Signa Holding GmbH, owned by the Austrian real estate and trading entrepreneur René Benko. At the end of November, it announced insolvency proceedings and applied to the Vienna Commercial Court to open self-administered restructuring proceedings. This means that the future of Germany’s last large department store chain, Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof, which was taken over by Signa Holding in 2012, is also uncertain.
Sports check
The future of the Munich sporting goods retailer SportScheck, which filed an application for bankruptcy at the Munich district court at the end of November, is equally uncertain. This was taken over by the Signa Retail division in 2019 and, like them, is insolvent. As a result, the takeover of Sport Scheck by the Frasers Group cannot be completed for the time being.
Real
The ailing chain Real is also on the verge of collapse and wants to close the last stores by the end of March 2024. 14 stores are to be transferred to competitor Rewe, three branches to Kaufland and one store to Edeka. The hypermarket chain Mein Real filed an application to open self-administered insolvency proceedings in September.
Miracle
After the sustainability-oriented Wunderwerk brand celebrated its tenth anniversary, Rheinstoff GmbH & Co. KG, the company behind Wunderwerk, had to file for bankruptcy at the district court in Düsseldorf at the beginning of July. Founder Heiko Wunder cited the Corona-related lockdowns, insufficient support from the federal government, delays in the supply chain and resulting high inventories, the insolvency of two suppliers as well as the Ukraine war, purchasing reluctance and inflation as reasons.
From Bleed to Yean’s Hall
In addition, the fashion chain Yeans Halle is insolvent because Trender Jeansmode GmbH Co. KG from Sindelfingen and twelve operating subsidiaries applied for self-administration proceedings at the Stuttgart district court on December 6th.
The sustainable fashion provider Bleed Clothing GmbH has also been in financial difficulties for several months and had to file for preliminary insolvency in November and the Central Franconian women’s fashion provider Madeleine Mode GmbH is expected to have to cease operations on December 31st of this year.
Other bankruptcies include the Berlin fashion label Lala Berlin and the Münster-based Best Sales & Services GmbH, which is behind the Better Rich brand.
Bankruptcies in Austria
Things were also turbulent in Austria with a number of bankruptcies, especially the Austrian subsidiary of the Tally Weijl retail chain, which opened restructuring proceedings without self-administration at the beginning of July. The reason was the high shop rents against the background of persistent sales losses.
It also hit the jewelry retailer Diadoro HandelsGmbH, the watch brand Doppelgänger, the children’s shoe brand Richter, as well as the Vienna-based Rose GmbH, which owns the Jones clothing chain, the Cocoon Sportswear GmbH, the Texfactory GmbH, the company behind the Austrian bag brand JaMia, and women’s fashion suppliers Blaumax as well as the womenswear luxury label Petar Petrov GmbH and the Viennese fashion retailer F&R Fashion Handels GmbH. They all had to file for bankruptcy in the second half of the year.
Kidswear retailer Emmas Boutique OG was no longer able to meet its ongoing payment obligations and filed for bankruptcy at the end of October. The Viennese second-hand dealer Motte Motte GmbH was also hit; he filed for bankruptcy at the end of August.
International bankruptcies
JD Sports’ Dutch subsidiary, Sports Unlimited Retail, filed for bankruptcy in December, while Paris-based brand Naf Naf entered bankruptcy proceedings in early September. The brand of the same name by Welsh designer Julien Macdonald also had to file for bankruptcy at the end of July as a result of the turbulent market conditions.
Belgian luxury fashion brand Maison Ullens was forced to fold after the brand’s founder, Myriam Ullens de Schooten Whettnall, was killed at the end of March and losses mounted.
Closings
Galeries Lafayette Berlin
At the beginning of October, the official end of the French department store chain Galeries Lafayette in Berlin was announced after owner Tishman Speyer, a US real estate developer, ruled out extending the lease beyond 2024. The reasons given were “changing consumer habits in Germany” and the “significant changes in the city’s retail market”.
Hallhuber
The search for investors for the insolvent Munich clothing supplier Hallhuber GmbH has so far been unsuccessful. As a result, all 112 branches were closed at the end of October – 98 branches in Germany, eleven in Austria and three in Switzerland.
Pimkie
Pangea Retail, franchise partner of French fashion brand Pimkie, announced in November that it would close all physical stores in Spain. The decision follows Pimkie’s change in ownership almost a year ago and a deep restructuring process.
Yves Rocher
At the beginning of August, the French cosmetics company Yves Rocher announced that it would have to close all branches in Germany, Austria and Switzerland because the company was no longer able to operate sustainably and successfully with its current business model. Around 140 branches and 350 employees are affected.
Schuhhaus Landgraf GmbH will close all of its stores in the five cities of Bonn, Siegburg, Bornheim, Bad Godesberg and Rheinbach by the end of 2024. The reason for this is not, as in many other cases, the difficult economic situation, but rather “personal reasons” and “external circumstances”.