H&M talk on Cheap Monday brand proves too expensive

H&M, the world's second-biggest fashion retailer, said on Tuesday that it would close down its struggling independent brand, Cheap Monday.

 

In 2008, H&M bought Fabric Scandinavien, the owner of the Cheap Monday brand,

whose trademark product is low-priced skinny jeans, and the store chains Weekday and Monki.

Cheap Monday products are sold mainly through about 3,000 resellers world-wide. They are also sold through its own online store, a flagship store in London and on Alibaba's online marketplace Tmall.

“Cheap Monday has a traditional wholesale business model, which is a model that has faced major challenges due to the shift in the industry,” H&M said in a statement.

“There has been a negative trend in Cheap Monday's sales and profits for a long time. The H&M group therefore intends to close down  Cheap Monday.”

Fabric Scandinavien was H&M's first-ever acquisition. H&M has since then launched several independent chains such as & Other Stories and COS to broaden its customer base.

“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,” H&M said on Tuesday.

Its core H&M brand, which has struggled to adapt to the online shift in the industry, still accounts for the bulk of business.

H&M said it aimed to complete the closure of Cheap Monday, which affects about 80 employees, by the end of June 2019.

• Reuters