Gerry Weber closes all branches in Lower Saxony: Clearance sales started!

Gerry Weber closes all branches in Lower Saxony: Clearance sales started!

In a dramatic step for the fashion industry in Germany, traditional fashion retailer Gerry Weber has announced that it will close all of its German branches. The sale has already started and offers bargains with discounts of up to 70 percent. In many places, however, the question arises: How long can we continue to strike?

The self-administered insolvency application was filed in March 2025 and the situation is serious. At this point, Gerry Weber still had 32 active stores and 11 outlets. Despite the ongoing sales, the exact closing dates are uncertain. However, the company is resorting to a takeover concept that has already been approved by a preliminary committee of creditors and the administrator Lucas Flöther. The Spanish company Victrix will take over the Gerry Weber brand and is planning a restart under its own structures.

Fate of businesses in Lower Saxony

The branches in Lower Saxony are particularly affected, including popular locations such as Oldenburg, Braunschweig and Bad Rothenfelde. The company headquarters in Halle with around 280 employees will also be closed. Internationally, another 400 employees are employed in Austria and other countries, while the business of the foreign subsidiaries is insolvent regardless of the German situation.

The near future is anything but rosy for Gerry Weber. Rumors are circulating about a final closing date, with closure by August 31, 2025 being discussed. The need to look for temporary workers in Hamburg-Bergedorf confirms the urgent situation.

Crisis in the fashion industry

Gerry Weber is not alone in this predicament. The fashion industry in Germany has been in deep crisis for years. Attempts at restructuring in 2019 and 2023 failed, and the number of bankruptcies continues to rise. In 2022, ten percent of German fashion manufacturers will go out of the market. Due to high inflation and rising costs for energy, rents and wages, many buyers are more skeptical about their spending, which also affects fashion retailers' sales. In this tense environment, companies such as Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof and Peek & Cloppenburg have also experienced difficult times.

German manufacturers have to face the challenges as demand declines and production costs rise rapidly at the same time. Gerrys Weber’s fate is therefore symptomatic of the problems that the entire industry is struggling with. While sales increased by almost 20 percent in 2022 compared to the previous year, they remain behind the 2019 figures when adjusted for inflation.

In summary, Gerry Weber is not only a remnant of past glory days, but also a reflection of current trends in the fashion industry. The brand must reorient and adapt if it wants to survive in the future. It remains to be seen how the takeover by Victrix will develop and whether the Gerry Weber brand can shine again or disappear in the shadow of the crisis.

For laypeople and experts alike, it will be exciting to see how retail will evolve in these most turbulent post-pandemic times.

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