After being in the business for nearly 4 decades, Cecil McBee, the renowned apparel brand of Japan, is finally finding it difficult to survive the tough times.
The brand, famous for its trendy and beautiful designs, has been struggling for over a decade now against the likes of bigwigs like H&M and Forever 21 that have been gaining lot of popularity in the country especially among the youth.
Amidst this struggle to not lose its identity, the fashion brand got its final blow this year when the deadly pandemic led to massive store closures eventually killing its sales.
In fact, in fiscal 2020, its sales were a disappointing 12.1 billion yen and with cases rising in the country again, the fashion label knows it cannot afford another lockdown.
So, when the fashion brand announced the closure of stores, it didn’t come as a surprise. There wasn’t any other way for Cecil McBee!
The brand has, reportedly, announced that it will be shutting down all of its 43 stores in Japan, with the final round of closures sometime in February 2021.
The brand’s much fashionable and talked about branch in Shibuya shopping tower, Tokyo is said to close down sometime by December this year.
There are also reports that many other sister labels under parent company Japan Imagination too may shut down – that’s a closure of another 92 stores and loss of another 570 jobs.
The brand, which targets fashion apparels for teenagers and those in early 20s, will, however, continue with its e-commerce operations.
