New Look promised 500 stores in China, lost £37m a year, and closed all 120

New Look, the British fast-fashion chain, entered mainland China in 2014, opening its first store there that year and running the business itself rather than through a franchise partner. The ambition was enormous: under owner Christo Wiese the company promised to open 500 stores in China within three years — at a time when it ran 94 Chinese stores out of 852 worldwide, with a nearer target of 150 stores by March 2017.

The China venture never became profitable. For the year ending 24 March 2018, New Look's overseas operations — of which China was the bulk — lost more than £37m, inside an overall company swing from a £97.6m profit to a £74.3m loss. Around 20 Chinese stores had already been shut during 2018 as the plan deflated.

On 18 October 2018 New Look announced it would exit China, closing all of its 120 remaining stores by the end of the year. Roughly 730 employees were affected. The company's stated reason was that it had "not achieved the necessary sales and profitability to support the significant future investment required to continue operations", and executive chairman Alistair McGeorge called the retreat a "difficult decision" taken after reviewing trading performance and the investment needed to stay.