Rescue deal at failed D2 Jeans saves 500 jobs and 44 stores

Talks are taking place to finalise store numbers under the buyout, which will see the D2 brand retained on the high street.

It is hoped 44 stores will be bought out of administration, with just over 500 workers retained, largely sales staff, as well as some warehouse and head office employees.

But about 32 stores, with more than 300 staff, are not included in the rescue deal.

D2 Jeans – created through the merger of Sir Tom Hunter's Fosters Menswear business and Jeans for Sale, the chain founded by Scots businessmen Alan Kinney and Jim McGonigle – became the first post-Christmas retail casualty last week when it was placed in the hands of administrators at accountancy firm BDO.

BDO immediately closed two of D2's three stores in Dublin, with the loss of 39 jobs, while 22 posts were also made redundant at its headquarters at Dundonald, in Ayrshire.

But yesterday the senior management team – led by Kinney and McGonigle – said they had completed negotiations with BDO and were finalising details of store numbers with landlords.

Kinney said: "This deal is the quickest and most viable way of securing D2 as a business, as well as several hundred jobs.

"It is clear that the former business could not cope with its continuing trading problems, especially in the light of the ongoing economic downturn."

He added: "The new business will head firmly 'back to basics', concentrating on the youth market and above all on keeping our costs low. Our stores will be cleaner looking and will carry less stock than in the past."

Kinney and McGonigle founded the Jeans for Sale chain, which merged with the former Foster's menswear chain in 1999 to create D2 Jeans.

The firm experienced losses in 2007 and was sold to a management buy-out in early 2008.