Background: General Pants was founded in Sydney in the 1970s and grew into a staple youth fashion chain across Australia and New Zealand. At its peak, it was the “cool kid” retailer where teens and young adults flocked for denim, streetwear, and youth culture.

What happened: Over the past 13 months, General Pants' private equity owner, Alquemie Group has closed 16 General Pants stores, or nearly 25% of its total network. Alquemie claims these closures were focused on the unprofitable stores.

What else: The bigger challenge lies in rising competition from cheap online players like Shein and Temu, making it harder for traditional youth retailers to keep up. With trends moving faster than ever, brands like General Pants can only survive if they continuously reinvent themselves.

What's the key learning?

💡Retail brands often follow a lifecycle similar to products. They launch as the “new kid on the block,” grow into cultural cool, mature into steady but predictable names, and then risk decline... unless they reinvent themselves.

💡General Pants peaked in the 90s and early 2000s as the go-to for edgy streetwear, but it hasn’t kept pace with newer players like Universal Stores, which grew sales by more than 15% last financial year.

💡Fast-fashion giants like Shein and Temu churn out up to 10,000 new items daily and roll-out new trends so quickly that traditional retailers struggle to keep up. As a result, General Pants is no longer shrinking to greatness... it’s shrinking just to survive.