Dive Brief:

• Kate Spade & Company Thursday said it will close all 19 lower-priced Kate Spade Saturday stores and all 12 menswear Jack Spade stores. The company expects restructuring costs of up to $30 million.

• The company says will fold the two brands within the company’s flagship brand and stores. Jack Spade will continue with its own site. But a new collection for children will come on line this year, the company also said.

• The retailer also announced new efforts to expand in China partnering with Walton Brown, a subsidiary of Asian retail management company The Lane Crawford Joyce Group.

Dive Insight:

With these moves, Kate Spade & Company is working on efficiencies and focusing on higher-end retail in a country — China — that offers a promising landscape for high-end retail, even with some slowdown in its economy​.

"A key tenet of our roadmap for growth is ensuring that we are disciplined and forward-looking with our investments, putting our resources behind targeted initiatives that will maximize profitability and shareholder value in the near, mid and long term," said CEO Craig A. Leavitt. "We continue to focus on two axes of growth – geographic expansion and product category expansion. We are early in our journey as Kate Spade & Company, and we see a clear path to becoming a four billion dollar business at retail.”