Fallen JEANSWEST Has Been Popular In China For Twenty Years.

Speaking of clothing brands, many people may think of the fast fashion giants such as UNIQLO, Zara and so on. Baleno, Giordano and Metersbonwe, which once used to be the pronoun of youth fashion and shop all over the streets, are no longer in sight. Another clothing giant collapsed in 2020. It was JEANSWEST (Jeanswest).

In mid January, JEANSWEST Australia announced its bankruptcy and liquidation phase, and then faced the fate of reorganization or sale. Their 146 stores in Australia are expected to gradually close, and nearly a thousand employees may be laid off.

Public information shows that JEANSWEST, founded in the 70s of last century, is one of the most representative Australian local clothing brands. Its famous products include the cowboy series and the pregnant women series. In the era of rapid and inexpensive development, JEANSWEST seized the opportunity and increased sales. Subsequently, the brand began to search for new foundries, hoping to achieve new expansion with cheaper manpower, lower raw material cost and faster production speed.

Almost the same period, the two brothers of Yang Zhao and Yang Xun opened a garment factory in Hongkong, specializing in garment brand and earning a small processing fee. Relying on the business that others dare not answer, they quickly open up their reputation and get a steady stream of orders, including JEANSWEST and GAP.

Although the clothing factory's business is getting more and more prosperous, Yang's brother soon realized that "orders are always passive by others, and only by creating famous brands, the development of retail is the way out." So in early 90s, the two brothers turned around and bought JEANSWEST, and soon became Australia's second largest casual wear chain brand.

Then he turned his eyes to the potential mainland market and made up his mind to make JEANSWEST, "China's GAP, and make Chinese brands in the casual wear market." They opened the first store in Nanjing East Road, Shanghai, and soon became popular with consumers. At that time, the domestic market was still at the early stage of opening up, and the concept of brand had not yet formed. JEANSWEST, Baleno, Giordano, YISHION and so on seized this bonus and became the most familiar trend brand in that era.

With cheap and cheap positioning and sales strategy, JEANSWEST has been well received in the two or three tier cities, and has become a common memory of post-80s and 90s. Many people even think that it is a domestic brand. At its peak, there were more than 2500 stores, with annual sales of nearly HK $5 billion, leading the apparel industry. Even Tsinghua University has a "JEANSWEST" building, enough to show the influence of the brand.

However, as Zara, H&M, UNIQLO and other fast fashion brands enter China, their market share is gradually eroded. The rise of the electronic business platform has caused a great impact on JEANSWEST, a conservative business idea. Layoffs of more than 6000 people, more than 1300 stores, 65% decline in performance. This is the true portrayal of the brand over the past seven years.

Some netizens said, "the quality of JEANSWEST's clothing is good, but the style is earth and can't attract young people." Alister Norwood, the founder of the brand, thinks that JEANSWEST's clothes are too miscellaneous to lead the fashion and lose the attraction to the core consumer groups.

According to foreign media reports, the announcement of bankruptcy and liquidation will only affect the company's business in Australia and will not affect overseas business. But in view of the fact that JEANSWEST has been losing money and closing stores in the Chinese market for many years, the crisis has undoubtedly cast a shadow over its future. Is the costume tycoon still selling? We can only wait for time to tell us the answer.