Dutch Scotch & Soda stores to close permanently after unsuccessful bankruptcy talks

An attempt to save the Netherlands retail outlets from the Scotch & Soda clothing label were unsuccessful, the curators of the bankrupt company announced. They claim that there were several parties with serious interest, but they pulled out of a possible deal when they found out they could not buy the Scotch & Soda brand.

The walk-in stores will now close, but the webshop will be kept alive by a different company. Scotch & Soda has 28 stores in the Netherlands and around 320 employees.

It was announced a week ago that a large part of Scotch & Soda, which was founded in the Netherlands, had gone bankrupt for the second time in just over a year. Under the helm of an American company specializing in brand management, Bluestar Alliance, the fashion company restarted last year.

However, significant problems with supplies of new clothing resulted in the department going bankrupt. The department is in charge of 92 stores in five European countries. The part of Scotch & Soda that owns the clothing brand is still in the hands of Bluestar Alliance.

The chances of a restart for the stores outside of the Netherlands differ per country. "The shops in Luxemburg and Belgium are definitely going to close. The curator is speaking to a party in Austria regarding a possible restart. There is also a party in Germany that is willing to take over several stores," said curator Michel Moeijes.

Staff who worked in the Dutch stores are now unemployed. As is always the case in bankruptcy, they will be paid another six weeks' wages via the benefits institution UWV.