American Apparel closes 12 of its 13 British stores

Nearly all the UK stores of U.S.-based clothing brand American Apparel, which went into administration in Britain last month, have closed, with the loss of 147 jobs, administrators KPMG said on Friday.

The teen retailer, founded in 1989, made its clothes in Los Angeles and was known for its sexually charged advertising.

The Camden High Street branch in north London is now the only one of the 13 British stores remaining open.

“Over the last seven weeks, we have carried out our intention to trade all of the stores on a short-term basis in order to sell the stock and realize value for the creditors. The Camden store will remain open into January,” Jim Tucker, Joint Administrator and Restructuring Partner at KPMG, said in a statement.

American Apparel filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S. in October 2015.

Canadian manufacturer Gildan Activewear Inc. has agreed to buy the brand’s worldwide intellectual property rights for about $66 million U.S, but has said it does not want to acquire the stores themselves.

At least eight US teen retailers, including Wet Seal LLC and Pacific Sunwear of California Inc, have filed for bankruptcy in the past two years as the spending habits of young people shift and they visit malls less often.

(Reporting by Camilla Hodgson; editing by Stephen Addison)