H & M will close its brand Cheap Monday in difficulty

STOCKHOLM: H & M, the world's second largest fashion retailer, announced Tuesday that it would close its struggling independent brand, Cheap Monday.

In 2008, H & M bought Fabric Scandinavien AB, owner of the Cheap Monday brand, whose branded product is cheap skinny jeans, and the Weekday and Monki chain stores.

Cheap Monday products are sold primarily through 3,000 resellers around the world. They are also sold in its own online store, a flagship store in London and in the online markets Asos and Zalando.

"Cheap Monday has a traditional business model for wholesale, a model that has faced major challenges due to the changing industry," H & M said in a statement.

"Cheap Monday's sales and profits have been in a negative trend for a long time, so the H & M group is planning to close Cheap Monday."

Fabric Scandinavien was the very first acquisition of H & M H & M has since launched several independent channels such as COS and & Other Stories to expand its customer base.

"We see very good opportunities and great potential for all other New Business brands, all of which are developing positively, both numerically and in physical stores," H & M said on Tuesday.

Its main brand, H & M, which has struggled to adapt to the sector's online shift, still represents the bulk of its business.

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

(The story corrects in 3rd paragraph to Asos and Zalando)

(Report by Anna Ringstrom, edited by Louise Heavens)