It’s been a tough year for all sorts of businesses. For clothing stores, 2020 has been extraordinarily grim.
The lockdowns in the spring took a considerable toll, of course. But even in June, as nonessential retailers were beginning to reopen their doors and, in some cases, reported upbeat signals about returning foot traffic, the worst was not over for apparel chains. In fact, it was just getting started. July and August brought a raft of failures: Lucky Brand, Brooks Brothers, and Ann Taylor’s parent company filed for bankruptcy; so did New York & Co.’s corporate parent as well as the storied department store Lord & Taylor, which soon resulted in those two chains liquidating. The pain continues: Francesca’s, a women’s clothier with 558 stores, filed for bankruptcy this month.
The 10 largest public U.S. companies that are either clothing retailers or department stores will collectively have $38 billion of revenue wiped out this year, a hole that amounts to 23% of their collective 2019 sales, according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Commerce Department figures show clothing-store sales through November were down 28.5% from a year earlier, the worst decline of any retailing segment, including restaurants.