In July this year, the Paris Commercial Court announced that the French knitted fashion brand Sonia Rykiel had entered bankruptcy liquidation proceedings. The brand launched the asset bidding process at the end of October.
The court reportedly received around 20 different bids. On the evening of December 18, the court made a ruling to sell Sonia Rykiel’s assets to brothers Eric Dayan and Michael Dayan, founders of French fashion e-commerce Showroom Privé, including Sonia Rykiel’s brand trademarks, intellectual property rights and all archives, and they also You can choose to take over the brand’s stores and leases. The specific sales price has not been disclosed.
The brothers said: “This acquisition is to continue our entrepreneurial journey. The Sonia Rykiel brand and her heritage remain French.”
The two brothers co-founded French fashion e-commerce Showroom Privé with David Dayan and Thierry Petit in 2006. Eric Dayan is responsible for ShowroomPrivé’s B2B business and Michael Dayan is responsible for commercial and legal affairs. The two resigned from their respective positions two years ago but still hold a stake in the platform. They now continue to provide strategic support and advice to a range of fashion brands, with a particular focus on digital technology.
As for the challenges that Sonia Rykiel will face in the future, both of them believe that (the brand after bankruptcy liquidation) will no longer have financial pressure, as well as their efforts in the fashion, brand, and digital fields. Expertise are two major strengths that will allow them to breathe new life into the brand. They plan to relaunch Sonia Rykiel in France and other regions starting in 2020, but did not disclose further details of the plans.
The Sonia Rykiel brand was founded in 1968 by the designer of the same name and once enjoyed a high reputation in the fashion industry. According to the brand’s official documents, the company’s sales in 2011 were 83.7 million euros and a loss of 1.4 million euros. In 2012, the brand founder and family sold 80% of the company’s shares to Fung Brands, a brand investment company owned by Hong Kong’s Li & Fung Group.
In early 2016, Fung Brands increased its stake in the brand to 100% and co-founded First Heritage with former LVMH group executive Jean-Marc Loubier and Singapore investment fund Temasek Brands (referred to as FHB) took over the brand. In August of the same year, brand founder Sonia Rykiel passed away after battling Parkinson’s disease for many years.
In October 2016, in order to reposition the main line brand Sonia Rykiel, FHB led the brand to reorganize, closed the secondary line Sonia by Sonia Rykiel, and laid off a quarter of its employees.
In the past two years, Sonia Rykiel has experienced high-level changes. Earlier this year, in order to save costs, the brand also closed stores in New York, London, Brussels and Luxembourg, reducing the total number of employees to 133.
In view of the fact that many years of continuous investment in Sonia Rykiel have failed to reverse the continued decline in brand performance, FHB decided to stop losses in time and sell the brand. In 2018, the brand’s sales were only 35 million euros, less than half of 2011 (83.7 million euros), and its losses were as high as 30 million euros.
On July 25 this year, the Paris Commercial Court rejected the Lévy family’s bid for Sonia Rykiel and announced that the brand would immediately enter bankruptcy liquidation proceedings. 131 employees lost their jobs, and 6 self-operated stores, intellectual property and all archives were auctioned. </p