After decades as one of Israel’s largest clothing groups, Honigman unraveled in 2018 under the pressure of online shopping, overseas competition, heavy store leases, and an increasingly outdated retail model. In February, the company sought court protection while reporting debts of approximately NIS 234 million, including NIS 128 million owed to banks and NIS 13 million owed to employees. The owners, brothers Yaakov and Micha Honigman, had reportedly sold real estate and mortgaged their private home in Herzliya Pituah to keep the business alive, but the rescue effort failed. Court-appointed trustees soon sought buyers for portions of the chain; revised proceedings ultimately sold 38 stores and children’s inventory for NIS 6.25 million, while roughly 700 employees faced dismissal. Suppliers, fabric manufacturers, and sewing workshops were expected to recover little or nothing, revealing how a major retail collapse could transmit financial damage down the production chain. The Tel Aviv District Court also approved the sale of a privately owned company building for about NIS 20.3 million and ordered an investigation into a striking discrepancy in the reported inventory value: stock presented at roughly NIS 120 million was reassessed at only NIS 38.5–43 million. Honigman’s women’s chain disappeared, Honigman Kids was sold to the KIWI operator, and TNT later entered another insolvency proceeding, turning the company’s breakup into one of the clearest Israeli examples of a legacy fashion empire being dismantled by debt and structural retail change.
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AI concept artworkArchive Record · 2010s
The 2018 Collapse of Honigman Left 1,000 Workers and Suppliers Exposed
Honigman, Honigman Kids, and TNT / 2010s
After decades as one of Israel’s largest clothing groups, Honigman unraveled in 2018 under the pressure of online shopping, overseas competition, heavy store leases, and an increasingly outdated retail model. In February, the company sought court protection while reporting debts of approximately NIS 234 million, including NIS 128 million owed to banks and NIS 13 million owed to employees. The owners, brothers Yaakov and Micha Honigman, had reportedly sold real estate and mortgaged their private home in Herzliya Pituah to keep the business alive, but the rescue effort failed. Court-appointed trustees soon sought buyers for portions of the chain; revised proceedings ultimately sold 38 stores and children’s inventory for NIS 6.25 million, while roughly 700 employees faced dismissal. Suppliers, fabric manufacturers, and sewing workshops were expected to recover little or nothing, revealing how a major retail collapse could transmit financial damage down the production chain. The Tel Aviv District Court also approved the sale of a privately owned company building for about NIS 20.3 million and ordered an investigation into a striking discrepancy in the reported inventory value: stock presented at roughly NIS 120 million was reassessed at only NIS 38.5–43 million. Honigman’s women’s chain disappeared, Honigman Kids was sold to the KIWI operator, and TNT later entered another insolvency proceeding, turning the company’s breakup into one of the clearest Israeli examples of a legacy fashion empire being dismantled by debt and structural retail change.
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