After sales stagnated at roughly $1 billion between 2017 and 2019, Brooks Brothers entered a crisis accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the decline of traditional office dressing, and competition from online retailers. In May and June 2020, the company sought a buyer and explored bankruptcy while proposing to close its three American factories. The proposal was especially damaging to the brand's mythology: Brooks Brothers had long promoted American manufacturing, and its Southwick plant in Haverhill, Massachusetts, had produced many of its mid-range 1818 suits and other tailored garments. Claudio Del Vecchio, who had acquired the Massachusetts factory, said the U.S. plants had never made money, while the company carried less than $300 million in debt.
On July 8, 2020, Brooks Brothers filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, announcing plans to close 51 of its roughly 250 North American locations. Its historic Madison Avenue flagship, a symbolic headquarters of American establishment style, never reopened. In September 2020, Authentic Brands Group and Simon Property Group acquired the company, keeping at least 125 U.S. stores operating but reducing the retail footprint sharply from the 424 global locations maintained before the pandemic. The collapse exposed the fragility behind the brand's presidential and Ivy League aura: heritage, patriotic manufacturing, and prestige could not shield a traditional apparel business from structural economic change.
