Kookai was placed in receivership. And, for their part, the employees of Pimkie fear the removal of 400 to 500 jobs.
by Juliette Garnier
The series of bad news continues in the shopping streets. After the liquidation of Camaïeu in 2022 and the receivership of Go Sport, two other deemed brands are in turmoil: Kookai, founded in 1983, and Pimkie, created in 1971. The Commercial Court of Paris placed the first In receivership, Wednesday 1
The chain which, in the 1980s, under the leadership of its founders, Jean-Lou Tepper, Jacques Nataf and Philippe de Hesdin, was successful thanks to sock sweaters, had been bought in 2017 by its Australian franchisee , Magi. It was in a hurry. Vivarte, who had been the owner for almost twenty years, wanted to get rid of it to restructure a colossal debt.
Kookai “was already in a delicate financial situation. And his store park was abandoned,” said the brand by press release. The COVVI-19 crisis, which led to the provisional closure of fashion stores in 2020 and 2021 and doped online sale, has complicated its revival. The obligation to pay the leases due to the property of shopping centers during these closing periods aggravated its debt; The chain now has a liabilities of the order of 10 million euros.
In addition, according to our information, the management of Rob Cromb, the founder of Magi, was not a long quiet river. Because the French brand must, since then, sell clothes designed in Australia, adapted to another hemisphere, and products in Magi factories located in the Fiji Islands. However, Mr. Cromb’s motivation remains. The Australian entrepreneur is “ready to present a continuation plan”, assures the world Jennyfer Cohen-Solal, marketing director of Kookai.
fears for employment
Pimkie will welcome its new owners on February 15. But already the concern earns the 1,300 people that the female clothing brand employs in its 213 stores in France. Because staff elected officials expect a large -scale restructuring. “A hundred stores could close. A job safeguard plan should be opened in the spring. Between 400 and 500 positions could be affected,” said Sandra Morin, CGT union delegate. This plan follows the transfer of pimkie.
The family association Mulliez (AFM), shareholder of Pimkie since its creation in Villeneuve-d’Ascq (North) in 1971, decided in May 2022 to sell the company to a consortium of three investors. That is to say the brand of jeans Lee Cooper, up to 70 % of the capital, Salih Halassi, buyer of the Kindy sock manufacturer and mariner briefs, up to 15 %, and the Turkish group Ibisler Tekstil, L ‘One of the suppliers of the northern chain, up to 15 %.
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