Fashion chain Mexx files for bankruptcy

CTV Montreal: Retailer Mexx files for bankruptcy Mexx is the latest clothing retailer to go bust in Canada, leaving the fate of its 95 stores up in the air.

International clothing retailer Mexx filed for bankruptcy at a court in Amsterdam Wednesday.

The company will close all of its stores, including "all entities" in Canada, according to the release.

However, it is unclear how many of their 95 stories will close, or if there will be a restructuring. Mexx has 10 stores in the Montreal area and others around Quebec City.

In a news release, the company cited slowdowns in retail sales, particularly in Europe, the Russian currency depreciation, the political unrest in Eastern Europe and promotional pricing pressure in Canada as reasons for its closing.

The company was founded by Indian-born Dutch businessman Rattan Chadha in Amsterdam in 1986.

In 2001, the chain was bought by the Liz Claiborne Group. Eva Friede, a business and fashion journalist at the Montreal Gazette, says that's when things started going downhill.

“Mexx seems to have languished for a good 10 years under Claiborne,” she said.

In February 2013, the company brought in a new CEO. German Julia Hansen was supposed to be the saviour, and Friede says the fall 2014 line seemed to be good.

“It was really cool. I would buy it but I don't think the turnaround came fast enough,” she said.

JoAnne Labrecque, a marketing professor at HEC Montreal, says retailers have no choice but to compete online and in traditional stores. The problem traditional retailers are facing now is that many didn’t have transactional websites, or websites where consumers could purchase goods, when they set up their webpages, she explained.

“Those who are not on the net and have traditional stores, it’s becoming for difficult for them to compete because there’s an increasing proportion of sales, especially with the fashion industry, that are made on the net,” she said.

McGill management professor Karl Moore also pointed retailers in Canada now also have to deal with American retailers setting up shop here.

“You have US retailers like target and Walmart and Amazon.com which of come to Canada in a big way and are making the world of retailing much more competitive,” he said.

Mexx has 2,800 employees worldwide, including 2,250 in Mexx-operated stores.

The announcement follows recent news that Quebec-based retailers Jacob announced it would close its stores, and that Reitmans is eliminating the Smart Set brand.