As part of its ongoing rationalisation programme, the upmarket Swiss footwear producer Bally is to close its three remaining retail outlets in Belgium.

By the time of its acquisition by the US investment company Texas Pacific Group (TPG) in 1999, Bally had already closed 17 of its shops in Belgium and its losses for the year amounted to $62.5 million. According to Abel Halpern, new Bally CEO and Europe managing director, the company will break even this year – largely on the back of new collections and a major cull of its retail outlets in Europe. He said the last of the Belgian outlets had to go because of the market’s incompatibility with the new set of styles. 

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