We rapidly accelerated our transformation to a digital-first company, fast-tracking numerous innovation and technology investments, which drove higher consumer engagement and year-over-year digital sales increase of nearly 20%, led by Soma's digital sales increase of 72%.
And according to the NPD Group, for the 12 months ended January 2021, Soma's growth exceeded that of the U.S. apparel market and the market leader for nonsport bras and panties and was in the top five brands overall in the sleepwear market.
The average age of our new customers dropped 10 years for Chico's and eight years for Soma.
We significantly enhanced our liquidity and financial flexibility by amending and extending our credit facility to $300 million and ended the year with a solid cash position.
We obtained landlord commitments of $65 million in rent abatements and reductions and further rationalized our real estate position by permanently closing 40 underperforming locations over the last year.
These efforts resulted in approximately $235 million of annual savings in fiscal 2020 or 23% greater than our original plan.
Today, the intimate apparel and loungewear market is a nearly $7 billion business in the U.S. and is forecasted to reach over $11 billion by 2025.
We have successfully enrolled 42% of our active customer file in Style Connect, representing almost three million customers.
We have a growing customer base with the most meaningful growth in our under 34 age group, as a result of more inclusive branding and evolved product assortment.
And our loyalty program already has some of the highest participation rates in retail at over 90%.
Our Chico's customers averaged well over 12 years with us.
Over the last year, we have reduced our supplier base by 20%, and agents currently represent 32% of the business, and we expect to lower that to about 18% by 2022.
While Soma is now a digital-first business, it is supported by 259 boutiques.
We have opened 10 so far this year, and we will open 40 more by early May.
We've closed 40 underperforming locations since the beginning of fiscal 2020 and ended the fiscal year with 1,302 boutiques.
We have strong lease flexibility with nearly 60% of our leases coming up for renewals or kick-outs available over the next three years.
To further improve store productivity, we anticipate closing 13% to 16% of our remaining store fleet over the next three years, with 40 to 45 of those closures occurring in fiscal 2021.
This means from the beginning of fiscal 2019 through the end of fiscal 2023, we will close up to a total of 330 stores, well ahead of our original multiyear closure target of 250 stores.
We ended the fiscal year with $109 million of cash and cash equivalents after paying $38 million in fourth-quarter rent settlements.
And we navigated the fourth quarter without increasing debt levels on our newly amended credit facility, which matures in October 2025.
As you recall, last year, we renegotiated over 90% of our store leases, resulting in commitments of $65 million in rent abatements and reductions.
On a cash basis, approximately $44 million of these savings were realized in fiscal 2020, with the majority of the balance expected to be realized in fiscal 2021.
This $65 million represented about 25% of our annual rent expense, which we felt was a reasonable request at the time.
However, with the effect of the pandemic now extending well beyond original expectations this month we are launching Phase 2 of our lease renegotiation process, going back to our landlords for additional reductions.
Phase 2 will focus on the continuing COVID impact on our stores.
In the fourth quarter, we permanently closed eight stores, bringing our net year-to-date closures to 39.
As of fiscal year-end, we have closed 123 stores since the beginning of fiscal '19.
Net sales totaled $386.2 million compared to $527.1 million last year.
This 26.7% decrease reflects a comparable sales decline of 24.9% as well as the impact of 39 net store closures in the year, partially offset by a double-digit growth in digital sales.
For the fourth quarter, we reported a net loss of $79.1 million or $0.68 per diluted share, which included $35.9 million or $0.32 per diluted share and significant after-tax noncash charges outlined in today's release.
The majority of these charges related to a $32.1 million or $0.28 per share deferred tax asset valuation allowance.
Gross margin in the fourth quarter was 19% of net sales compared to 32.5% last year.
We ended the year with inventories down over 17% from the prior fiscal year-end.
Our apparel inventories are down over 20%, and some inventories are up 2% year over year.
As we look ahead to the first half of fiscal '21, we are planning year-over-year apparel inventories down more than 30%, and Soma inventories up over 30% as we continue to cannibalize on the momentum in this rapidly growing business.
SG&A expenses for the fourth quarter totaled $136.2 million, an improvement of $40.8 million from last year, reflecting our ongoing expense reduction initiatives to align our cost structure with sales.
The effective fourth-quarter tax rate was a provision of 20.4% compared to a benefit of 21.6% from last year's fourth quarter.
In addition, our fiscal year-end balance sheet reflects a federal income tax receivable of approximately $35 million that we expect to realize in the second quarter of fiscal '21.
We are continuing to implement supply chain efficiencies and intend to maintain stringent inventory controls, with fiscal 2021 first half inventories planned down roughly 30% to last year.

Summary:
And we navigated the fourth quarter without increasing debt levels on our newly amended credit facility, which matures in October 2025.
Net sales totaled $386.2 million compared to $527.1 million last year.
This 26.7% decrease reflects a comparable sales decline of 24.9% as well as the impact of 39 net store closures in the year, partially offset by a double-digit growth in digital sales.
For the fourth quarter, we reported a net loss of $79.1 million or $0.68 per diluted share, which included $35.9 million or $0.32 per diluted share and significant after-tax noncash charges outlined in today's release.
We ended the year with inventories down over 17% from the prior fiscal year-end.