Monsoon Accessorize to become "smaller and stronger" as 35 stores shut across the country

A UK fashion retailer has announced that more than 500 jobs will be cut as it falls into administration.

Monsoon Accessorize, which currently has around 200 locations across the country, has announced that 35 of its stores will be closing.

The company’s founder, Peter Simon, bought the company out of administration almost immediately, but will only be able to keep 162 of its stores open.

This is expected to affect 545 jobs, with approximately 450 of those to be transferred to Peter Simon’s other business, Adena Brands.

The company said that the fall into administration was caused by the impact of coronavirus.

Peter Simon commented: “Both Monsoon and Accessorize were trading well before the coronavirus pandemic but the business simply could not withstand the financial impact of having to close all its UK, franchise and joint venture stores for almost three months.

“This deal secures the future of both Monsoon and Accessorize and means we can continue to serve our customers online without a pause.

“In addition, we will now try to save as many of our stores as possible, depending on the outcome of various discussions with landlords.

“I would like to thank landlords for the helpfulness and enormous forbearance they have shown so far, which has enabled us to get to this point.

“Ultimately, we hope to be able to save as many as 2,300 jobs in this process, and more than 4,500 in our supply chain, although unfortunately not all of them.

“We believe that fashion has a future on the high street, and we are prepared to commit time and money making it work.

“Monsoon and Accessorize will both emerge smaller and stronger after this but essentially the same – with our unique design flair and commitment to environmental standards and ethical trading intact.

“I am looking forward to working with everyone to overcome this crisis and make the next chapter in our history a success.”

Tony Wright, joint administrator and partner at FRP, said: “We had to move quickly and decisively to secure the future of Monsoon and Accessorize, as many jobs as possible and the presence of these two iconic brands on the UK high street.

“After assessing a range of options this deal achieves those goals with least disruption to the business in an already challenging retail environment.

“We are now committed to working with Adena Brands as they enter talks with landlords to agree future terms across their store portfolio and look to transfer more jobs to the buyer.

“We’ll also be working with the Redundancy Payments Service to support all affected employees through this difficult time.”