Sissy-Boy, founded in 1982, is a Dutch high street clothing and accessories chain with over 45 stores in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

, and

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

Merchandise

Besides clothes (for what is described as an "upscale" audience), the stores sell household textiles, such as drapes and curtains. After management realized that customers were often interested in the furniture in the stores, they started selling that too. Clothes and fabrics are designed in-house. The company designs and sells tricot dresses with flower prints, based on the 1970s era

wrap dress "Wrap dress" is a generic term for a dress with a front closure formed by wrapping one side across the other, and is fastened at the side or tied at the back. This forms a V-shaped neckline. A faux wrap dress resembles this design, except that it ...

first designed by

Diane von Fürstenberg Diane von Fürstenberg (born Diane Simone Michele Halfin; 31 December 1946) is a Belgian fashion designer best known for her wrap dress. She initially rose to prominence in 1969 when she married into the German princely House of Fürstenberg ...

, and reintroduced in the 1990s. In addition to their own designs, Sissy-Boy also sells tricot dresses by King Louie.

History

The first Sissy-Boy location was opened in Amsterdam in 1982 under the name Scoot by Michael Smit. Together with Romy Schneider, they began a clothing line, naming it "Sissy" after the nickname of Queen Elisabeth of Bavaria. The line's clothes were initially all sold as unisex, but expanded to include men's clothes. 'Boy' was then added to the name to reflect this change in focus. , there were over thirty Sissy-Boy stores in the Netherlands, and one was opened in

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

, Belgium, in the summer of 2009. The company opened a "concept store" on the KNSM Island. The company was bought by the Brand Retail Group in 2017, which said in 2019 it had always planned to sell it on. By 2018 they intensified their search for a buyer, since sales were disappointing, but in 2019 the company was close to bankruptcy. In 2019, the company was indeed declared bankrupt at a time when a number of well-known Dutch chains of stores got in financial trouble. At the time, it had 45 stores in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg, and 600 employees. The company was bought out by Termeer, a family company that owns a number of other clothing and shoe stores. In 2021, an

outlet store An outlet store, factory outlet or factory store is a brick and mortar or online shopping, online store where manufacturers sell their merchandise directly to the public. Products at outlet stores are usually sold at reduced prices compared to re ...

was opened in The Hague, a new store was opened in Brugge, Belgium, and Sissy-Boy started a

capsule collection A capsule wardrobe is a minimalist collection of clothes that can be put together in different ways to cover a variety of outfits and occasions. The aim is to have an outfit suitable for any occasion without owning excessive items of clothing. Thi ...

, their first, with Rachel van Sas.

References

External links

*{{official website Clothing brands of the Netherlands