Future looks grim for loss-making Haider Ackermann

Prospects for fashion label Haider Ackermann are certainly bleak: the company is making heavy losses and does not find a buyer. The future is uncertain, says owner Anne Chapelle.

No buyer found

Haider Ackermann suffers “a mega loss”. The owner of the brand, Belgian fashion entrepreneur Anne Chapelle, has doubts about the future, according to an interview with newspaper De Tijd. If no buyer is found, it doesn’t look like the designer label will continue to exist. But that search is not easy either: the plans to sell the brand failed a few months ago.
 

Chapelle hoped to be able to sell Haider Ackermann to Claudio Antonioli, who is also taking over Ann Demeulemeester from her, but it “didn’t come to an agreement”. In her own words, the businesswoman “did everything in her power to include the label in the deal, but failed”. Although there are other talks going on, the prospects seem grim, because “you have to find someone who wants to invest, as it were, in a startup.”
 

At Haider Ackermann, the challenges appear to be multiple: sales are down and some large customers went bankrupt, suddenly halving revenues. Moreover, e-commerce cannot compensate for the decline in physical shop sales.