Groupe Beaumanoir has partially taken over French women’s fashion brand Naf Naf, which had been under court protection since May. The new owner intends to save about half the jobs.
Retail chain disappears
Beaumanoir is the owner of brands such as Bonobo, Cache Cache, Caroll, Morgan and Sarenza – and has recently acquired the rights of the bankrupt brand Jennyfer. It is now also taking over the Naf Naf brand, as well as 12 of its 102 stores and about half of its 600 employees. The Commercial Court of Bobigny had also considered an application by the Amoniss group (owner of Pimkie), but the latter dropped out due to its financial situation being too fragile, AFP news agency reports. Beaumanoir will operate the acquired stores under other brands, so Naf Naf will indeed disappear as a retail chain.
Naf Naf had its heyday in the 1980s and 1990s, but ran into major financial problems in 2020 due to the Covid pandemic. After the bankruptcy, there was a relaunch under French-Turkish SY International, but in September 2023, a second request for protection already followed. After tht, Turkey’s Migiboy Tekstil temporarily rescued the chain with a 1.5 million euro investment and a promise to keep 90 % of the jobs and more than a hundred stores on board. However, hat project also soon foundered, forcing the chain to seek protection from creditors for the third time.