Is this the Death of Juicy? Juicy Couture Dropped from Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, and Bergdorf Goodman

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Since the departures of its founders Gela Nash-Taylor and Pamela Skaist-Levy from Juicy Couture earlier this year, the company seems to have been on a slippery slope downhill. First, the new board hires designer Erin Fetherston to design a special holiday collection—for which Fetherston says she was inspired by photos of herself and which includes a pale yellow baggy velour gown—and now, come fall, Juicy Couture has entirely disappeared from major department stores. WWD reports:

A spot check of stores revealed that Saks Fifth Avenue dropped the Juicy Couture line at the New York flagship for fall; Bloomingdale's flagship cut way back on its Juicy department on the contemporary floor; Nordstrom passed on the apparel line for fall; Bergdorf Goodman no longer carries the line, and Neiman Marcus has dropped the line in several stores, such as White Plains, N.Y. and Beverly Hills.

It's hard to imagine that a line that was once so ubiquitous—Juicy sweats, dresses, cotton tops, and jeans used to be a staple of malls and department stores—will be entirely absent from so many retail locations. WWD reports that Nash-Taylor and Skaist-Levy will be launching their own, new, brand next year. We're excited to see what they come up with.

UPDATE: The spokesperson for Juicy Couture contacted us and issued this statement:

Juicy Couture, contrary to your post, is alive and well in hundreds of top department stores around the country and worldwide as well as in our own Juicy Couture stores.

At Juicy Couture, we found the best way to give our consumers what they want was if we could choose what to offer and where to offer it. That is why, since early 2009, we have put more emphasis on our own stores and our e-commerce site (re-launching Sept 15), where we have more control over brand image and assortment.

So, if you happen to be in one of the few markets where there’s less Juicy in your favorite department store, there’s a good chance everything you need is nearby in one of our stores. And, if you’re at Saks’ flagship store on Fifth Avenue, you can still find amazing pieces from our BIRD by Juicy Couture collection. And if you want the perfect Juicy Couture Fall look, we are in plenty of upscale department stores around the world and of course at our stores and JuicyCouture.com.

We hope you will take a look at all our great new product.

· Juicy Couture Scaled Back at Stores [WWD]
· Erin Fetherston designs for Juicy Couture: this is what happened [Racked]