UPDATE, JAN. 16, 1:32 P.M.: Foothill Ranch-based Wet Seal Inc. announced today it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection but will continue business operations under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court. The specialty retailer released a statement saying it worked out a financing arrangement with B. Riley Financial Inc. to fund continued company operations during the Chapter 11 cases. The so-called “debtor-in-possession” agreement is subject to bankruptcy court approval.
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ORIGINAL POST, JAN. 8, 7:36 A.M.: Foothill Ranch-based Wet Seal Inc. announced Wednesday it will close 338 of its stores and lay off some 3,700 full-and part-time workers … and no one in the clothing industry was surprised.
The teen clothier company has been struggling for years. Its stock has lost 98 percent of its value over the past year and its debt is nearing $30 million.
The latest move leaves Wet Seal with about 170 retail and online outlets.
If you check …
… you'll see we've written over the years about Wet Seal's racial discrimination allegations, sweat shop allegations and even a fashion or three.
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OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.