Edinburgh Wool Mill, owner of Peacocks and Jaeger, is on the brink of collapse, with 24,000 jobs at stake.
The company has filed a notice of intent to appoint administrators to look for potential buyers to shore up the troubled business.
Bosses wrote to them Friday morning to warn them that national and local locks had seriously affected sales.
If the company goes bankrupt and all jobs are lost, it will be the largest British advertising victim to date.
The record remained unenviable in the past through British Airways, cutting 12,000 places in April.
The final sale of the Edinburgh wool mill in Kingston-upon-Thames
EWM said it was greatly affected by the accusations, which it denied, that the store and several rivals did not pay some Bangladeshi suppliers closure in an effort to reduce the prices of the garments that they were unlikely to sell.
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Edited through Associated Newspapers Ltd
Part of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday and Metro Media Group