Famed Israeli jewelry and fashion designer Michal Negrin is closing her worldwide business due to “financial difficulties,” the Hebrew-language 0404 military website reported Saturday night.
Negrin notified the company’s 120 employees that she had to “give up” because the company was no longer able to maintain itself financially. Included in the closure are 13 stores in Israel (seven operating as franchises) and 22 more operating internationally around the world, plus a factory in Bat Yam, a suburb of Tel Aviv.
“With great sorrow and great pain, we must tell you that our path is over, and we are forced to close our life’s work that we have invested all of our heart and soul and money into,” Negrin said on Sept. 25 in a statement.
“All of you understand that something is happening – we had to narrow down to one building, fired employees, thought we could make changes to the business and lead it to a better place. We took outside consultants that went into the depth of the situation, started a process that looked promising and correct, but unfortunately … we realized that the financial pit was much deeper than what we thought, and we don’t have the money and ability to keep running this whole set.”
Negrin’s chain has been operating for some 30 years. Negrin’s glittering boutique stores are found in airports and shopping malls in Israel and around the world.