Clothing retailers need to be so careful and strategic these days. A lot of them have both closed and opened stores to try and ensure their physical stores are in the right place. Having physical stores is an automatic disadvantage and they need to work hard to turn it into a positive, for example M&S, Next and John Lewis have done this with their impressive next day click and collect services. Following some closures of non profit making stores, they seem to be in a good position going forwards.
People expect cheap clothes. Shareholder expect profits, so more and more corners are cut, the clothes are getting worse, people are starting to be a bit turned off - 'I already have something nicer at home' - the absolute opposite of what you should be thinking when in a clothes shop. It doesn't help that fashion moves very slowly - beige and baggy has been in for years now, no matter how its dressed up as 'coastal chic' or 'neutral minimalism'.
I think the environmental side will become more relevant over the next ten years. But the only way a company can supply good quality, ethical clothing is to charge more but its not clear there is an appetite for that after years and years of a race to produce clothing as cheaply as possible. It must be incredibly hard when you also have to pay rent on a physical store.
What is disgraceful is when upmarket retailers like Jigsaw and Whistles put the high price on but the material and supply chain is no better.
New Look - I think they are in danger of cutting too many corners but their clothing and accessories are very fashionable and appeals to teenagers.
H&M - clearly a mutlinational company so can't see that going anytime soon. There's been quite a lot of investment in the physical estate, including rearranging and reducing the amount of stock in some stores to give them a more high end look.
Zara - an influencer favourite and very popular so can't see that going anywhere either. There are at least three branches on Oxford Street.
Seasalt - I think they will be fine. They haven't got lots of shops and I think they have a loyal customer base who know what they are getting. What they do very well is to be very detailed about giving sizes - one thing I will never understand is why such scant information is given for online clothing. I'll just tell you the model height.
I agree its the ones like Matalan and Peacocks that seem problematic, where you aren't really clear who wants their stuff, the stores aren't attractive, the customer service dire, and you can buy nicer things online or in other places. They aren't able to do good quality but if you want cheap, you'd go to Primark.