Dive Brief:

• Wet Seal Inc. has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the company announced Friday.

• The teen retailer recently said that it will be closing 338 stores, and warned last month that it might be making the move to file for bankruptcy protection. 

• Wet Seal says that it hopes to keep its remaining 173 stores open during the process. 

Dive Insight:

Another year, another teen retailer heading for what looks like the end. As mentioned last month when fellow teen retailers Delia’s Inc. and Deb Stores filed for Chapter 11, the teen retail market is struggling to keep up with fast-fashion powerhouses Forever 21 and H&M that are attracting key teen clientele with low prices and in-vogue designs.

Whether Wet Seal will be able to recover from this move is yet to be seen. What we do know is that its fellow teen retailers need to adapt and change to the shifting needs of its millennial shoppers—and fast.