US-owned apparel company Liz Claiborne Inc. said Wednesday its first-quarter losses resulted with sales down 29 per cent. Citing restructuring charges and a drop in same store sales stemming from lower consumer spending, Liz Claiborne’s loss attributable to the company widened to $91.4 million, or 97 cents per share, from a loss of $31 million, or 33 cents per share, in the same quarter last year.

Sales tumbled 29 percent to $779.7 million from $1.1 billion in the 2008 quarter. The loss was worse than Wall Street expected. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected a loss of 23 cents per share on $884.3 million in sales. Excluding an $88 million drop related to brands or certain brand activities and a drop of $41 million related to the effects of foreign currency exchange rates, sales fell 17 percent, the company said.

Company officials said low store traffic coupled with a highly promotional retail environment resulted in same-store sales decreases of 22 percent at the company’s Juicy Couture brand, 18 percent at Lucky Brand, 27 percent at Kate Spade and 7 percent at Mexx.

By the third quarter, the company said it expects results to improve, with an adjusted operating profit to follow for the fourth quarter.

Image: Lucky Brand Jeans logo