Why Mosaic Brands outlets Rockmans, Crossroads, Autograph, W. Lane hit the wall

The demise of Australian fashion retailer Mosaic Brands may have been because its various brands were targeting the same customers, a retail expert says.

Mosaic announced on Monday that its Rockmans, Crossroads, Autograph, W. Lane and BeMe brands were marked for the chopping block and that all stores and websites would be shut down.

Rockmans, Autograph and W.Lane have a combined 231 stores, according to Mosaic’s 2023 annual report. BeMe Brands and Crossroads are pure-play digital brands.

Mosaic chief executive Erica Berchtold said the move to axe the stores would allow them to focus on the “five core growth brands”.

“Whilst the operational details of the rationalisation plan, including store closures, continue to be worked through, we will seek to minimise the impact on our team, including where possible reassigning impacted team members into roles within the five core brands,” Berchtold said.

The mistake made by the fashion retailer could be pinned on a lack of brand diversity, a Queensland retail expert said.

Queensland University of Technology Business School retail expert, Gary Mortimer, said Mosaic Brand’s failure was marketing to the “exact same audience”—middle-aged, middle class women.

“If you walk into a shopping centre, you will find at least two, if not three, of those brands all competing for the same customer and that just duplicates and triplicates the cost of doing business,” he told News.com.au in August when Mosaic’s financial issues first emerged.

In early August the company announced that it was seeking refinancing advice form Deloitte’ leading to a short stock exchange trading halt before its share price tanked 24 per cent, the SMH reported.

Mosaic said Monday more insight into its operational restructure will be shared in the coming weeks.

The closure of the five brands come ahead of the release of the company’s earnings results for the 2023-24 financial year.

Berchtold said the priority now was retaining existing customers and attracting new ones.

“Our Focus on Core is a growth-driven strategy to retain existing customers and attract new ones. Central to this strategy, Mosaic will continue to focus on servicing regional Australia,” she said.