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Another iconic Australian-founded fashion brand is due to shutter its physical stores after the owners of Jeanswest decided to appoint administrators to the company, marking the end of a half-a-century legacy and raising question marks over the future of its 600 employees.
The decision comes just over five years after Hong Kong-owned Harbour Guidance Pty Ltd rescued the Perth-founded brand from administration in February 2020, with unsecured creditors losing a reported $10 million worth of debts owed.
In that time its retail presence in Australia has declined from 146 stores to more than 90 locations today.
Amidst increasingly tough trading conditions caused by reduced discretionary spending and increased living costs, the owners called time on the brand's bricks-and-mortar operations by appointing Lindsay Bainbridge, Andrew Yeo and David Vasudevan of Pitcher Partners Melbourne as voluntary administrators.
Jeanswest's physical stores are due to close "in due course" but administrators note the brand and online store may be continuing and all restructuring options remain open.
Bainbridge says the company had fought for five years to revive the 53-year-old brand but concluded it was time to step back from physical stores to focus on online retail.
“The owners have done everything they can to keep Jeanswest going, but market conditions mean sustaining bricks-and-mortar stores is not viable and unlikely to improve," he says.
“They deeply regret the impact of store closures on their team members and their customers, and we will be working now with teams across the country.”
Bainbridge acknowledges the impact of the decision on staff.
“This is a hard day for hundreds of Jeanswest team members and we will be working directly with the team members to provide clarity and information about the next steps,” he says.
He expects all store stock to go on immediate sale as administrators begin the process of restructuring the business.
“We will be opening the doors of all stores and selling online to clear all stock to secure a return to creditors,” he says.
Jeanswest was originally founded by Alister Norwood in Perth in 1972, expanding in Western Australia over the course of more than a decade before entering the Queensland, New South Wales and Victorian markets between the mid-eighties and early-nineties.
In 1990 Peter Volk and Glorious Sun Group took control of the brand and relocated its headquarters from Perth to Melbourne.
Today's announcement follows other high-profile collapses for Australian fashion brands this year, including the formerly ASX-listed conglomerate Mosaic Brands which owned Noni B, Millers, Rivers, Katies, Rockmans and W.Lane, as well as Ally Fashion which was placed in liquidation.
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