Tom Tailor concludes in the Luisenforum: Will New Yorkers come as a savior?

Tom Tailor concludes in the Luisenforum: Will New Yorkers come as a savior?

Big changes are currently coming to the fashion world at the Luisenforum in Wiesbaden. Tom Tailor is closing its branch due to renovation work in the shopping center, which center manager Janine Marz has confirmed. This closure is part of a broader restructuring affecting the fashion industry. The plans call for the New Yorker to open its doors on two floors with around 2,000 square meters by the second quarter of 2026 at the latest. Woolworth is also planning to open in the Luisenforum, while TK Maxx is expanding its space on the first floor with the aim of completing the work before the 2025 Christmas season.

Since being taken over by Chinese conglomerate Fosun in 2020, Tom Tailor has faced numerous challenges. In addition to closing the Wiesbaden branch, the company will also close 300 other stores and cut several hundred jobs. The plans include a capital increase of ten million euros, which is to be financed primarily by Fosun. These measures show how serious the situation is for the brand, which is faced with a negative annual result that will reduce annual profit before taxes and depreciation (Ebitda) from 76 million euros to just 10 to 20 million euros.

The battle of the fashion industry

The fashion industry in Germany was severely affected during the Corona pandemic. Many retailers had to close temporarily, which led to drastic sales losses and bankruptcies. But there are some signs of recovery. In 2023, sales of over 38 billion euros were achieved, with trousers standing out as the product group with the highest sales. Adidas even leads the sales ranking of fashion brands in Germany, while Nike was the most valuable clothing brand worldwide and was worth over 31 billion US dollars in 2022.

However, this does not mean that the problems for fashion retailers like Tom Tailor are over. Germans are increasingly attaching importance to high durability and fair prices. Sustainability is becoming increasingly important; A third of Germans are willing to pay more for sustainable fashion, and the proportion of second-hand clothing is constantly growing. In 2023, the share of second-hand clothing sales in the German clothing market was already over 11 percent. These trends reflect changing consumer behavior, which is putting many chain stores under pressure to reposition themselves and adapt.

Outlook for the future

The coming months will be crucial for Tom Tailor and other fashion retailers. While the closure in Wiesbaden is a challenge, the upcoming changes in the Luisenforum could help revitalize the location as a whole. New players like New Yorker and Woolworth are bringing a breath of fresh air to shopping malls and could lure customers back to the mall. Whether all of this will be enough to stop the trend of declining willingness to spend on fashion remains to be seen.

The developments in the Luisenforum and in the fashion industry in general show how dynamic and challenging the business can be. It remains exciting to see how market participants position themselves in this changing landscape. The road to stability is rocky for Tom Tailor, but perhaps the company can still turn things around and regain a foothold in the fashion business.

Read more about the challenges and strategies of the Tom Tailor brand in the detailed reports FashionUnited and FashionNetwork. For more statistics and information about the fashion industry, we recommend taking a look at Statista.