Kit and Ace, the luxury-basics fashion brand founded by the family of Lululemon’s founder, announced today that all three of its Washington-area locations closed Wednesday at 12:30 PM. The company is reportedly closing all of its US locations, including showrooms on both M Street and 8th Street in DC, as well as its Bethesda Row storefront. The 8th Street location was one of the original tenants of the Shay mixed-use development in Shaw, while the Georgetown store opened last May.
The store closures come just seven months after the company cut about 20 percent of employees at its headquarters in Vancouver; one of two rounds of layoffs it made in 2016.
In a press release, Kit and Ace’s parent company says it is shifting its focus toward online sales and its nine original showrooms in Canada. Along with its US locations, Kit and Ace is also closing its stores in Australia and the United Kingdom.
Hayley is an Associate Editor at Washingtonian Weddings. Previously she was the the Style Editor at The Local Palate, a Southern food culture magazine based out of Charleston, South Carolina. You can follow her on instagram @wandertaste.
