‘There has been a negative trend in the profits for a long time’
H&M has announced it is closing its trendy denim brand Cheap Monday due to poor sales.
In a move that will affect roughly 80 employees, the label known for its skinny jeans and skull motifs will close its online store and Carnaby Street branch on 31 December.
According to a statement from H&M, who acquired the brand in 2008, Cheap Monday has encountered financial difficulties in recent years due to industry changes, though it did not specify what these changes were.
“Cheap Monday has a traditional wholesale business model,” it reads, “which is a model that has faced major challenges due to the shift in the industry.
“There has been a negative trend in the Cheap Monday’s sales and profits for a long time.”
Commenting on the move, H&M’s head of new business, Anna Attemark, added: “We need to constantly develop our business and what we choose to invest in.
“We see very good opportunities and great potential for all of the other brands within new business, which all are developing positively both digitally as well as through physical stores.”
Cheap Monday launched in 2004 selling exclusively jeans and expanded into producing full-scale collections, including items such as sweatshirts and skirts, the following year.
One year after the brand became a part of the Stockholm-based H&M group, which also owns COS, Monki and Weekday, it opened its first standalone store in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Loyal fans of the brand have expressed disappointment at the closure on social media.
“The closing of @cheapmonday makes my old teenage self cry a little. Bye skinny love [sic],” wrote one person on Twitter, referencing the brand’s signature skinny jeans.
H&M said the closure of the Cheap Monday business would be complete by the end of June 2019.
Reference-https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/hm-cheap-monday-shut-down-shopping-fashion-a8658901.html
