Essentiel Antwerp has significantly reduced its wholesale network

Belgian brand Essentiel Antwerp has significantly reduced its number of wholesale outlets. The brand confirmed this in writing to FashionUnited following reports by Belgian newspaper De Standaard.

In Belgium, the brand has gone from 120 to 69 outlets and internationally from 800 to 550. As for its own retail, there are no changes planned - 19 of its own shops can still be found in Belgium and eight in the Netherlands.

The decision to bring back the wholesale network can be traced back to the changes Essentiel has made in recent months, brand owner Inge Onsea told De Standaard. It says it cannot implement the new way of working with all its partners, so the number of partners has been reduced. Onsea says it wants to forge deeper partnerships with the stores that remain.

This article was originally published on FashionUnited.BE. Translation and editing: Veerle Versteeg.