Clothing retailer Jeanswest has collapsed, with more than 90 stores set to close within months and hundreds of employees set to lose their jobs.

The company confirmed the news on Wednesday, with administrators citing increasingly tough trading conditions in the Australian retail sector.

Jeanswest entered administration in January 2020, but was rescued by Hong Kong business Harbour Guidance.

Administrators from Pitcher Partners said the decision to close the brand came after five years of struggling to revive the company, with shoppers spending less due to the higher cost of living.

“The owners have done everything they can to keep Jeanswest going,” administrator Lindsay Bainbridge said in a statement.

“They deeply regret the impact of store closures on their team members and their customers, and we will be working now with teams across the country.”

All stock at Jeanswest stores is expected to go on sale shortly, Mr Bainbridge said, with the retailer currently promoting a mid-season sale.

Jeanswest operates more than 90 stores around the country and employs more than 600 workers.

Its administrators are hoping to keep the brand going in some capacity online, which could save some of those 600 jobs.

However, many of those people work in the more than 90 stores set to close.

“This is a hard day for hundreds of Jeanswest team members and we will be working directly with the team members to provide clarity and information about the next steps,” Mr Bainbridge said.

Jeanswest has several stores in New Zealand too, which administrators say are not closing.

Founded in Australia, Jeanswest opened its first retail store in Perth in 1972, before expanding to the east coast during the 1980s.

It was purchased by Hong Kong firm Glorious Sun in 1994, before the business was sold to private company Howsea Limited in 2017.

Are you a Jeanswest employee? Contact our journalists at Ainsworth.Kate@abc.net.au and Terzon.Emilia@abc.net.au.
Retail insolvencies see thousands lose their jobs in 2025

Jeanswest’s collapse follows the closure of retail group Mosaic, which owns Australian chains including Rivers, Noni B and Katies.

Mosaic collapsed last year with 250 people in head office and 2,500 workers across 651 stores in Australia and New Zealand. It owed creditors almost $250 million.

Mosaic’s workers alone are owed $21 million in entitlements like pay and annual leave out of that collapse, the federal government’s department of employment confirmed to ABC News this month.

They are also owed $870,000 in superannuation.

Workers from the Mosaic collapse have already been offered assistance under the federal government’s scheme to pay out workers missing entitlements.

ABC News has contacted the federal government about whether it was across how many workers might be owed money out of the Jeanswest collapse, and if they would be offered fast-tracked assistance too.

Jeanswest’s administrators are still working through entitlements that could be owed, ABC News was told.

Author Credits: Kate Ainsworth and Emilia Terzon
ABC News