Jones Fashion from Austria closes after 53 years

Jones Fashion from Austria

“I would like to draw the final line on my own”

The Austrian fashion chain Jones ends after more than 50 years. The founder and boss explains what the former industry pioneer failed.

After 53 years, the Austrian fashion chain Jones said goodbye to inpatient trade. As the “Standard” reports, the Viennese company closes all 30 own branches at the end of June, including 20 in Austria. Ten franchise -guided shops and more than a hundred sales outlets in high -rise specialist retailers are also affected.

The reason for the outstanding costs, a changed buying behavior and the continuing economic alarm, as company boss Gabor Rose explained. As early as 2019 and again in 2023, Jones had to register bankruptcy.

Rose justified the step in an explanation with the tense economic situation. “Despite intensive savings measures, we have not managed to develop a sustainable solution for the future of Jones.” In order to keep the company stable, sales should have increased by 15 percent annually. “We don’t dare to do that,” Rose told the “Standard”.

Jones was founded in 1972 by Gabor Rose, who came to Vienna with his family from Budapest (Hungary). At first he produced blouses, later he built up a franchise system and expanded abroad. The brand stood for upscale women’s fashion in the middle price segment – an area that is increasingly under pressure.

Jones rely on a well-kept business look for decades. But with the disappearance of dress codes and the trend towards leisure fashion, this style increasingly lost relevant. In addition, online competition, inflation-related purchase supply and severely increased costs for rents, energy and personnel.

According to Rose, continued operation was no longer possible under these conditions: “I would like to draw the final line on my own.” The goal is a clean handling without debt. The company will fully serve the creditor rates from bankruptcy 2023.

The Jones branches will be taken over by three other fashion companies from summer. “More & more”, one in Munich Founded and now in Turkish property, is already active in 16 countries and secures three to four locations in Austria. “Liberty Fashion” also comes from Germany and was previously only represented with a branch in Innsbruck. The company plans to take over at least seven other areas. Third buyer is the Salzburg fashion label “pattern room”, which is expanding with the step to Vienna.

According to Rose, 70 of the last 107 employees have good chances of being taken over by the successors. They want to support the rest of the job.

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Especially prominent layers, such as the flagship store on the ditch in the center of Vienna, initially remain without a subsequent tenant. According to Rose, such inner city locations can now hardly be financed.

Jones is not the only fashion company that has had to give up in recent years. The industry has been in the crisis for a long time: Palmers, Esprit, Gössl and most recently Gerry Weber reported bankruptcy. The sales areas in the inpatient fashion trade have shrunk by 20 percent in Austria alone in the past ten years.

According to trading experts, the price center, in which Jones positioned itself, is increasingly being grated: between cheap chains that scale over online platforms and high -priced labels with strong brand binding. In addition, many consumers prefer to spend their money on trips or gastronomy today than for clothing.

Rose still draws a conciliatory conclusion: “It was a nice time for which we are grateful.” Together with his wife, he now wants to treat himself to a longer break – for the first time in decades. But from half a century Jones Fashion there is still a lot that they would have to process: “The head is still not free for new things.”