David's Bridal has filed for bankruptcy but says its stores will stay open and orders will not be disrupted

Facebook/David's Bridal

David's Bridal has filed for bankruptcy.

• David's Bridal has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, it said in a press release on Monday.
• The new deal will enable it to reduce its $760 million debt load by $400 million and to continue to operate business as usual. According to the company, it has no plans to close stores or liquidate inventory. Bridal appointments will not be impacted.
• David's Bridal has increasingly come under pressure as lower-priced competitors have entered the market.

Wedding gown retailer David's Bridal filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection early Monday morning.

The new deal will enable it to reduce its $760 million debt load by $400 million and to continue to operate business as usual.

According to the company, it has no plans to close its 300 stores or liquidate inventory. Orders and bridal appointments will not be impacted.

"For more than 60 years, David's has delivered beautiful, high-quality dresses and accessories for our customers' most special occasions, and the actions we are taking will enable us to build on that tradition," Scott Key, CEO of David's Bridal said in a statement to the press.

He continued: "Today's announcement is just the next step in our efforts to proactively secure David's Bridal for a long, successful future. We are implementing our consensual restructuring plan from a position of strength and, with the support of our lenders, noteholders and equity holders, the plan will allow us to reduce our debt significantly while continuing to run our business as usual."

The store has been suffering from a shift toward more casual wedding dresses. Earlier this year, credit-rating agency Moody's downgraded David's Bridal, citing falling traffic and same-store sales over the past two years.

"In our view, this is a reflection of the intense competition in the sector and casualization of both gowns and bridesmaids dresses," Raya Sokolyanska, a Moody's analyst, wrote in a note to investors at the time.

While David's Bridal had made an effort to adapt to the trend, a fleet of lower-priced competitors such as Anthropologie, H&M, Asos, and Reformation have swooped in and taken market share. Experts say that the market is now oversaturated with options.

"We have seen an uptick in the trend towards casualization in weddings, likely attributed to the increase in brides willing to shop online," a representative for David's Bridal told Business Insider in February. "We've certainly reflected this in our bridal assortment."

David's Bridal isn't the only established chain to have lost out. Alfred Angelo, which has been in business for over 80 years and offered bespoke dresses, abruptly closed and filed for bankruptcy protection in July 2017, leaving many irate brides left stranded without a dress.