Bankruptcy ends Camaïeu revival hopes

French fashion chain Camaïeu has been declared bankrupt, after a long struggle. The chain goes into judicial liquidation, 2,600 employees lose their jobs and all shops will close irrevocably.

240 million euros in debts

Saturday is the last opening day for Camaïeu’s shops. The fashion chain was declared bankrupt by the Lille court on Wednesday, two months after being granted a moratorium. That moratorium has now been converted into a judicial liquidation, 7sur7 reports.

All assets are being liquidated to (partially) pay off the mountain of debt of 240 million euros. This means the closure of 511 shops in France and the loss of 2,600 jobs. Unions even believe that more than 5,000 people will lose their jobs, as the chain worked with many service providers.

One-page business plan

Camaïeu relaunched itself in 2020 and was then taken over by real estate group La Financière immobilière bordelaise, but the pandemic weighed heavily on the already weakened retailer. There were doubts about the takeover from the start: “The takeover plan was not very well thought out, with a business plan that fits on one page. I am not in a position to provide more than 70 million in state effort”, French industry minister Roland Lescure explains.

To avoid liquidation, the owner said 79.2 million euros were needed over the next eight months to pay for the autumn-winter collection and purchase the spring collection, among other things. The shareholder said on Wednesday morning it still wanted to inject more money itself, on condition that the state would allow an advance of 48 million euros. But the French government deemed that unrealistic.