Espirit (Kowloon Bay, Hong Kong) is shuttering 56 locations across Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore and Macau, China, WWD reports, with the exception of mainland China, as well as its license and wholesale businesses across Asia. This news reportedly comes after the COVID-19 pandemic has forced the company to streamline its operations. The company anticipates all of the aforementioned stores will be closed by the end of June.
Anders Kristiansen, Esprit’s Group Chief Executive Officer, said, according to WWD: “The whole industry has been affected by the global crisis. We first felt the impacts in Asia and now in Europe, where many of our stores have been closed. This is forcing us to look at the contribution all markets make to the groups’ performance.”
While Espirit will continue to operate in Mainland China, the company is in the process of shutting down its stores there by May 31 in order to renovate and relaunch the brand.