60 million goods just arrived in the U.S， the big customer declared bankruptcy!

Date：2020-05-29 09:22:41

Recently, a true story has been circulating in the footwear industry in Taiwan.

Half a month ago, a shipload of $8 million (about RMB 57.23 million) of garments spent weeks sailing across the ocean to a U.S. port, and the moment it disembarked to unload, the bad news came that the customer had just filed for bankruptcy protection.

A large number of clothes on board the ship lost buyers, who were only willing to buy them for 1/4 of the price, and the victims of the great blood loss are Taiwanese manufacturers; while the bankrupt customers are the American clothing brand J.Crew, which is deeply affected by the epidemic and unable to repay the $1.65 billion (about RMB 11.8 billion) debt and has filed for bankruptcy protection.

J.Crew isn't the first brand to be crushed by the epidemic. Like a domino effect, in May alone, eight apparel brands or retail giants in Europe and North America declared bankruptcy reorganization, with the century-old American department store JCPenney and Canadian shoe chain ALDO among them.

Crew brand image exquisite and simple, used to be the former First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama (Michelle Obama), the British Princess of love brand, its nearly 500 stores and e-commerce channels, annual revenue of $ 2.5 billion, with a large number of die-hard fans. J. Crew could not easily survive the fast fashion pigeonhole, but in the epidemic outbreak, Europe and the United States sealed the city, the performance of the straight-line decline, can only fall. The company was originally carrying heavy debt and suffered a decline in sales, the new crown epidemic further worsened the difficulties faced by the enterprise. According to U.S. media reports, the overall revenue of the U.S. apparel industry fell about 52 percent due to the outbreak.

Yesterday, J.Crew got permission from a bankruptcy judge to delay rent payments for up to two months, despite objections from more than a dozen landlords. In addition to delaying rent payments, J. Crew stopped paying other costs associated with his rental property, including insurance, taxes and maintenance costs, an attorney said.

J.Crew became the first major U.S. retailer to go bankrupt in the coronavirus pandemic, filing for Chapter 11 protection on May 4. Carrying about $1.7 billion in debt, the retailer has been struggling for several years.J.Crew went private with a leveraged buyout in 2010.Around 2015, the apparel and accessories company undertook a massive expansion project and tried to cater to a more high-end audience in response to changing consumer preferences and spending habits. The move was largely unsuccessful, and in the years that followed, new loyalty programs, product line launches, and third-party market debuts failed to address the mistake.