Chief executive Philip Mountford said he would reduce the retailer’s supplier base by 10 per cent and SKUs by 5 per cent to lower costs for the business and concentrate on growth.
For the first 18 weeks of its second half, retail like-for-likes were down 1.5 per cent. Dresswear was the worst performer with value dress suit offerings from retailers such as Asda and Matalan hitting the menswear chain hard.
On increased competition from the value sector, Mountford said: “We will move away from the bottom-middle end of the market to the top-middle end, with brands such as Simon Carter which are continuing to perform well.”
Stock levels have also been cut by£4 million, a reduction that is double what was planned for the year originally. “This will mean we go into Sale with less stock so will not have to do as much heavy discounting and maintain more margin,” said Mountford.
He added: “We are not alone in finding trading tough at the moment. There has been a marked decline in disposable income and when that happens, menswear is often the first to suffer.”
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