The series of bad news continues in the shopping streets. After the judicial liquidation of Camaïeu in 2022 and the receivership of Go Sport, two other well-known brands are in turmoil: Kookaï, founded in 1983, and Pimkie, created in 1971. The Paris Commercial Court placed the first in receivership, Wednesday 1is february. At the head of 121 stores, Kookaï, which employs 320 people, is facing a 25% drop in activity compared to 2019.
The chain which, in the 1980s, under the leadership of its founders, Jean-Lou Tepper, Jacques Nataf and Philippe de Hesdin, enjoyed success thanks to sock sweaters, was bought in 2017 by its Australian franchisee, Magi. It was in a hurry. Vivarte, who had owned it for nearly twenty years, wanted to get rid of it to restructure a colossal debt.
Kookai “was already in a difficult financial situation. And its store base was abandoned”, specifies the sign by press release. The Covid-19 crisis, which led to the temporary closure of fashion stores in 2020 and 2021 and boosted online sales, complicated its relaunch. The obligation to pay the leases owed to the property owners of shopping centers during these periods of closure has aggravated its indebtedness; the channel now has liabilities of around 10 million euros.
Moreover, according to our information, the management of Rob Cromb, the founder of Magi, has not been a long calm river. Because the French brand must, since, sell clothes designed in Australia, adapted to another hemisphere, and produced in the factories of Magi located in the Fiji Islands. However, Mr. Cromb’s motivation remains. The Australian entrepreneur is “ready to present a continuation plan”ensures the Monde Jennifer Cohen-Solal, Marketing Director of Kookaï.
Job fears
Pimkie will welcome its new owners on February 15. But already concern is gaining the 1,300 people that the women’s clothing brand employs in its 213 stores in France. Because the elected staff expect a major restructuring. “A hundred stores could close. A job safeguard plan should be opened in the spring. Between 400 and 500 positions could be affected”, believes Sandra Morin, CGT union representative. This plan follows the disposal of Pimkie.
The Mulliez family association (AFM), shareholder of Pimkie since its creation in Villeneuve-d’Ascq (Nord) 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 manufacturer of Kindy socks 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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