Wet Seal cut 338 stores to save the brand — two years later there were none left

Wet Seal began in 1962 as Lorne's, a beach-town shop opened by Lorne Huycke in Orange County, and grew into a national teen retailer — 540 stores at its peak across 48 states, incorporated as Wet Seal in 1990. By December 2014 its own board had 'substantial doubt' the company could continue; after a default notice from creditor Hudson Bay Master Fund, it filed Chapter 11 in Delaware on January 16, 2015. The rescue plan cut two-thirds of the chain: 338 stores closed, about 3,700 jobs gone, 173 stores and the website to carry on.

The causes were the whole teen-retail decade. Fast-fashion rivals Forever 21, H&M and Zara turned trends faster than Wet Seal could; mall traffic was falling; teenagers had less money and fewer part-time jobs to earn it. Chief executive Ed Thomas called the filing, unanimously approved by the board, 'the appropriate course of action.' In April 2015, Versa Capital bought the reorganised company for $7.5 million in cash alongside a $20 million rescue loan; Melanie Cox replaced Thomas as chief executive, and in 2016 the headquarters moved from Foothill Ranch to Irvine. The sales never came back.

In January 2017 the second filing came. 'The company was unable to obtain the necessary capital or identify a strategic partner, and was recently informed that it will receive no further financing for its operations,' vice-president and general counsel Michelle Stocker wrote to staff. On January 27, all 171 remaining stores closed at once — liquidations ran until February 28, with about 3,000 people employed at the end. Gordon Brothers acquired the name; today Wet Seal exists only as an online brand.