UPDATE 1-H&M to close down its struggling Cheap Monday brand

* Cheap Monday is sold mainly through 3,000 resellers

* Negative sales, profit trend for long time(Adds detail, background)

By Anna Ringstrom

STOCKHOLM, Nov 27 (Reuters) - H&M, the world'ssecond-biggest fashion retailer, said on Tuesday it would closedown its struggling independent brand Cheap Monday.

H&M in 2008 bought Fabric Scandinavien AB, the owner of theCheap Monday brand, whose trademark product is low-priced skinnyjeans, and the store chains Weekday and Monki.

Cheap Monday products are sold mainly through around 3,000resellers world-wide. They are also sold through its own onlinestore, a flagship store in London and on Chinese Alibaba'sonline marketplace Tmall.

"Cheap Monday has a traditional wholesale business model,which is a model that has faced major challenges due to theshift in the industry," H&M said in a statement.

"There has been a negative trend in the Cheap Monday's salesand profits for a long time. The H&M group therefore intends toclose down? Cheap Monday."

Fabric Scandinavien was H&M's first-ever acquisition. H&Mhas since then launched several independent chains such as COSand & Other Stories to broaden its customer base.

"We see very good opportunities and great potential for allof the other brands within New Business, which all aredeveloping positively both digitally as well as through physicalstores," H&M said on Tuesday.

Its core H&M brand, which has struggled to adapt to theonline shift in the industry, still accounts for the bulk ofbusiness.

H&M said it aimed to complete the closure of Cheap Monday,which affects around 80 employees, by the end of June 2019.

(Reporting by Anna Ringstrom, editing by Louise Heavens)