Clothing stores Steps and Promiss are latest high street casualties

Clothing chains Steps and Promiss are to close most of their stores in the spring under a drastic reorganisation plan by Belgian parent company FNG.

All 14 Promiss stores in the Netherlands will shut their doors, along with 38 of the 48 Steps branches. Altogether 108 full-time staff and 126 temporary workers are employed in the stores, most of whom will lose their jobs. Around 50 will be offered jobs in other FNG chains such as Miss Etam and Claudia Sträter.

FNG said it wanted to concentrate on online sales, which account for more than half the profits of the two chains. The company, which owns dozens of clothing chains in Belgium and the Netherlands, acquired Steps in 2014 and Promiss two years later.