MENSWEAR ONLINE RETAILER JACKTHREADS LOOKS FOR BUYER, CUTS STAFF

Menswear online retailer JackThreads announced last week that it has laid off most of its staff and is now up for sale, according to Fortune.

According to reports, the retailer has cut its staff down to a skeleton crew with mass layoffs over the past two weeks, and is in discussions to sell the company. The layoffs include much of the customer service staff as well as certain high-ranking employees, which has caused several customer service-related complaints on social media.

Digital publishing company Thrillist Media had acquired JackThreads in 2010 as part of an attempt to fuse e-commerce with the rest of its lifestyle coverage, but the two split into separate companies in 2015 after raising $54 million in new funding.

Since the separation, multiple reports are claiming that it was the company’s reckless spending and unusual customer benefits have contributed to the ailments of the retailer. Its newest program, TryOuts, let customers order clothes without paying for them, try them on and then only pay for the items they didn’t return – ultimately affecting the retailer in a negative way.

Having reached out to the company, MR has received this statement by a company spokesperson: “Over the last few months JackThreads has been in M&A conversations with multiple potential acquirers. A few weeks ago we made changes to meaningfully reduce the burn and to enable these various conversations to reach their conclusions. We’re confident this effort will help us to finalize one of several deals on the table and to maximize the opportunity for both our employees and investors.”

More on this developing story as it becomes available.