Brooks Brothers Goes Bust With Business Clothes Losing Favor

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

(Bloomberg) -- Brooks Brothers Group Inc. filed for bankruptcy, felled by the pandemic’s impact on clothing sales and its own heavy debt load.

The two-century-old apparel company is the latest to succumb as lockdowns during the coronavirus outbreak add to the woes of old-line retailers. Neiman Marcus Group Inc., J. Crew Group Inc. and John Varvatos Enterprises Inc. each filed for bankruptcy since the virus took hold.

The Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in Delaware allows Brooks Brothers to keep operating while it works out a plan to turn the business around and pay its debts. The company listed assets and liabilities of at least $500 million each in court papers, and lined up a $75 million bankruptcy loan from WHP Global, owner of the Joseph Abboud and Anne Klein brands, according to a statement.

The pandemic has hit Brooks Brothers hard, shuttering office buildings and hurting demand for business wear as people worked from home. The retailer has been trying to sell itself since last year as many of its roughly 250 U.S. locations struggled with declining sales, Bloomberg reported earlier. The effort to find a buyer will continue with an auction during the bankruptcy, and Brooks Brothers expects the process to wrap up in a few months, according to the statement.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/brooks-brothers-goes-bankrupt-formal-123854417.html

[JustAnotherGen]

1. Sad

One place I could go to purchase age appropriate "tech world" work clothing. Great place for work shirts (button downs). Never have to buy a 14 and have it tailored to.an 8 everywhere but the chest. Like - their clothing is for grown women.

[elleng]

2. Nice.

Dad shopped there for many years.

[CountAllVotes]

3. It is sad

To avoid the China clothes, I've been buying my night clothes from Germany. They cost less and the quality is 5X better.

Brooks Bros. marks the end of a once great era.

Sad to see them go.

[Hoyt]

5. Someone will pick up the brand, and cut out a lot of the staid stuff.

[Blue_true]

6. Times changed and some companies didn't change fast enough.

I look at pictures of old time baseball games in places like NYC, Boston, Chicago. Everyone was in a suit. People used to wear a suit to work and if they went out to dinner after work, would change into another suit. Today people only buy suits for formal events like funerals and some weddings. State level and national politicians wear suits daily, but that really is only a small number of people.

There is simply do demand for a lot of what they specialized in. I know that I wear jeans and simple shirts most of the time. If I have an important meeting, I wear casual dress slacks and a dress casual pullover, the people that I meet with have open collar shirts or pullovers on and either jeans or dress casual slacks.

[Demovictory9]

8. Big culture shift with respect to clothes

For men and women

[Blue_true]

10. Yes. And people are finicky now on top of the dress culture change.

So clothing sellers have to guess what will be a hit and it typically is good only for one year (except, I wear dress casual pullovers year after year, they work for my frame).

[GulfCoast66]

9. And make their clothes overseas.

They are really expensive. But I still look at clothes as an investment. I’m a 54 year old Fuddy Duddy at work. I have wool slacks that are over 10 years old and look new. I figure I buy a $200 pair of quality slacks that last a decade I will be better off than paying $45 for a pair that lasts a year or 2. I know most don’t think this way, but it was the way I was raised. Cheap shit does not bring long term happiness. Realize I’m not buying multiple pairs a year.

There is something to be said for the few fashions that don’t change every year. And men’s professional clothes don’t change that much.

The wife is the same way. She has a couple of wool skirts she bought in the early 90’s! She gets compliments when she wears them.

Obviously, we don’t have have a closet full of dress clothes!

[Hoyt]

11. I was probably the last person to quit wearing a tie when I worked in

offices. Wore mostly those stripped Rep ties, and skinny ones when they were out of style.

As I got older, I realized clothes were no longer needed to impress people, professionally or otherwise, and I kind of like the Colombo rumpled look. Now, most of my work is remote and so far I’ve avoided video conferencing.

I did always like to wear a decent, starched, button-down shirt, but got where I didn’t care much about pants as long as they were grey.

Wish I had gone casual sooner, although I did early on adopt “dress” sneakers.

I like the casual dress nowadays, particularly that in creative fields.

[GulfCoast66]

12. Don't get me wrong, I don't wear a suit to work.

And could not afford a Brooks Brothers suit. Well, would not pay that much.

Some days my work is such I can wear jeans. But I have other days when I need to look sharp. But no one wears a jacket in Florida.

Although I must admit I like French Cuffs. Mainly because my dad died in 90 when I was young and I have all his cuff links. So more an emotional thing than fashion!

Of course now I’m not buying shit. Furloughed from work! So I look at all those nice slacks and wonder how they will work as a retail clerk!!

Have a nice evening.

[Victor_c3]

7. I'd expect to see more of this

I read an article months ago stating that if the economic fallout brought on by the mismanagement of trump was just half as bad as the bush recession, that up to 40% of big businesses could face bankruptcy.

Years and years of ultra-low interest rates brought on huge levels of corporate debt.

Aside from the scores of jobs lost and the immediate pain that brings, we as a country would be better off without most of them. We need to focus on creating more opportunities for small businesses to pop up - they create way more middle class jobs than a giant Walmart with a small handful of managers being the only ones making a decent income in a given community.