London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Monday, Jul 21, 2025

No company is safe from Covid-19: the 6 luxury brands filing for bankruptcy

No company is safe from Covid-19: the 6 luxury brands filing for bankruptcy

Which brands has Covid-19 shut down? More than you think, with many of the most prestigious, including Neiman Marcus and Lord & Taylor, filing for bankruptcy after more than a century

It will not have escaped your attention that businesses are struggling at the moment. Among them, luxury brand after luxury brand is filing for bankruptcy after being hit by widespread belt tightening. For a lot of companies, particularly those that rely on brick and mortar retail, Covid-19 has only compounded what was already a grim situation.

Of course, filing for bankruptcy and actually going out of business are different things, and other companies are just hoping to buy time to get themselves back on their feet.

Here are some of the biggest luxury victims of the pandemic so far.


A Brooks Brothers ensemble.


The most classic of American men’s tailoring brands, Brooks Brothers, filed for bankruptcy in early July. Over the brand’s incredible 202-year history, it has dressed stars from Will Smith to Andy Warhol, provided the costumes for dozens of well-known films and TV shows such as Mad Men and dressed numerous presidents, including Abraham Lincoln and Barack Obama.

It is now owned by Italian businessman Claudio Del Vecchio, the son of Luxottica eyewear billionaire Leonardo Del Vecchio, who is trying to sell it. Brooks Brothers was already struggling before the pandemic, affected by the increasing trend towards less formal dressing, which has only been exacerbated in the era of lockdowns and Zoom.


Lord & Taylor's flagship store on 5th Avenue in Manhattan, New York City in 2018.


That other incredibly high profile casualty of the pandemic, US retail giant Neiman Marcus, is even older than Brooks Brothers at a prestigious 113 years. The company, which also owns retail brands including Bergdorf Goodman and luxury e-commerce site Mytheresa, was already suffering thanks to a debt of around US$4 billion it was required to service, which was costing the company about US$300 million per year.

Along similar lines, Lord & Taylor, the US’s oldest department store chain with a history dating back to 1826, filed for bankruptcy in August.

Among younger brands, celebrity favourite Sies Marjan, beloved by the likes of Beyoncé and Jennifer Lopez, closed its doors in June after just five years in business. Owned by Dutch designer Sander Lak, the former design director of Dries Van Noten, it had made a name for itself with bold, social media-friendly pieces in a daringly bright and broad colour palette.


Centric Brands Inc., which filed for bankruptcy in May, will carry on under the new ownership of a group of private equity firms. The company, which recently bought Zac Posen, creates products under licence for more than 100 brands, including Tommy Hilfiger, Under Armour, Calvin Klein, Nautica, Kate Spade, Frye, Jessica Simpson, Timberland, Hervé Léger and Michael Kors.


Tokyo’s Renown, which owns brands including D’Urban and Arnold Palmer, went into liquidation in November. The company entered bankruptcy proceedings in May, but was unable to turn its business around, declaring 13.9 billion yen (US$133 million) in liabilities in its bankruptcy filing.

Majority owned by China’s Shandong Ruyi since 2010, a diverse company that also owns Bally, Aquascutum and SMCP, as well as being China’s largest textile manufacturer, Renown had been struggling for a while as it failed to adapt to the e-commerce era and to sufficiently address the growing China market, recording a 6.7 billion yen (US$65 million) net loss last year.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
Microsoft, US Lab to Use AI for Faster Nuclear Plant Licensing
Trump Walks Back Talk of Firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Irish Tech Worker Detained 100 days by US Authorities for Overstaying Visa
Dimon Warns on Fed Independence as Trump Administration Eyes Powell’s Succession
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Jeff Bezos Considers Purchasing Condé Nast as a Wedding Gift
Ghislaine Maxwell Says She’s Ready to Testify Before Congress on Epstein’s Criminal Empire
Bal des Pompiers: A Celebration of Community and Firefighter Culture in France
FBI Chief Kash Patel Denies Resignation Speculations Amid Epstein List Controversy
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Google Secures Windsurf AI Coding Team in $2.4 Billion Licence Deal
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
South African Police Minister Suspended Amid Organised Crime Allegations
Nvidia CEO Claims Chinese Military Reluctance to Use US AI Technology
Hong Kong Advances Digital Asset Strategy to Address Economic Challenges
Australia Rules Out Pre‑commitment of Troops, Reinforces Defence Posture Amid US‑China Tensions
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
U.S. Resumes Deportations to Third Countries After Supreme Court Ruling
Excavation Begins at Site of Mass Grave for Children at Former Irish Institution
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
EU Delays Retaliatory Tariffs Amid New U.S. Threats on Imports
Trump Defends Attorney General Pam Bondi Amid Epstein Memo Backlash
Renault Shares Drop as CEO Luca de Meo Announces Departure Amid Reports of Move to Kering
Senior Aides for King Charles and Prince Harry Hold Secret Peace Summit
Anti‑Semitism ‘Normalised’ in Middle‑Class Britain, Says Commission Co‑Chair
King Charles Meets David Beckham at Chelsea Flower Show
If the Department is Really About Justice: Ghislaine Maxwell Should Be Freed Now
NYC Candidate Zohran Mamdani’s ‘Antifada’ Remarks Spark National Debate on Political Language and Economic Policy
×