Jockey Europe announced to German trade press in mid-February its intention to cut off its independent accounts in the UK and Germany but delayed transmission of this news to trade press in the UK until yesterday. The Jockey sales teams in Great Britain and Switzerland have already been disbanded as well as some positions in Germany.
Smaller, independent stockists received their notification last month that Jockey Europe would no longer supply them. The news was met with disbelief as it was only in November 2020 that the company stated to its Jockey partners {despite the coronavirus} “We continue to everything in our power to offer you the service you are used to.”
At the moment it is unclear how many trading accounts have been impacted by the move but will be felt hardest in the menswear sector. There has been no direct comment from the company with European HQ in Germany but this statement was released: “The company has a new organisational structure, focussing on e-commerce and the cooperation with key accounts. Europe remains of central important to Jockey. Key accounts and e-commerce will be centrally managed from the Jockey Europe headquarters in Balingen in the future, guaranteeing reliable service for all retail partners.”
A few of the independent bricks & mortar stores Underlines spoke with did not even realise that this was the end of their trading relationship with the brand – thinking that the non-supply was just a temporary ‘blip’ due to the pandemic. The move echoes the stance taken by Spanx in the UK & Ireland at the beginning of 2019 and has left independent shops and specialist e-commerce businesses dismayed. Many of the shops have been trading with Jockey with 50-60 years. Likewise the short notice that all final orders had to be submitted by 1st March was considered inadequate.
An English menswear shop reported: “We stock other brands but it is going to be a struggle to find an alternative in the short to mid-term. We have been informed that we are no longer required as Jockey will be selling direct to the consumer via its own transactional e-commerce site.”
A specialist underwear e-commerce site sums up the feelings of these stockists:
“Jockey’s decision to end its relationship with UK retailers, online and bricks-and-mortar, came as a bombshell. In November they wrote to stockists, stressing four times in the letter their appreciation of the strength of working partnerships and their and our trust in working together through a tough time. Exactly three months later, with no other notice, they announced they would cease to supply us with immediate effect. Jockey is the only brand that has done anything like this during the pandemic, all our other suppliers are working hard and well with us to keep things going and that is working well.
We understood that Jockey was withdrawing entirely from all store sales across the UK and Europe but it seems only the independents, who have worked with Jockey for decades and made the brand the legend it is, and online retailers are to be dismissed.
What a very sad end to all those partnerships and the trust retailers have put into Jockey for so long. We wish them well with their own online business in the UK and Europe. The gap they have left in our sales will be easily filled by other, more modern and innovative brands, but it’s still a shame the way this has ended.”
