After Pimkie, Kookaï, Princess Tam Tam and others, it is the turn of the brands Du Pareil au Même and Sergent Major to be placed under the protection of French justice.
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Two brands of children’s clothing this time. Du Pareil au Même, which employs 2,500 people, is placed in receivership by the Commercial Court of Bobigny (Seine-Saint-Denis)… as for Sergent Major, who belongs to the same group, she has for her part been placed in backup procedure. Natalys, the third brand owned by the General Holding for Children (GPE), is spared for the moment, as it is smaller and exposed to fewer difficulties.
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The pandemic effect that is still felt today. The head structure, Générale pour l’Enfant (led by the French trio Paul Zemmour, Eric Guedj and Exelmans Audit et Conseils) saw its turnover drop by one hundred million euros over the Covid period. The forced closure of stores weighed heavily on activity. Added to this, inflation, rising energy and raw material costs, soaring rents, the necessary increase in wages and competition from the second-hand market, itself generated the impact of inflation on the purchasing power of these households.
The sector does not go up the slope
For clothing, the exit from the pandemic did not mean a return to the situation before the Covid pandemic. Concretely, according to the figures communicated by the French Fashion Institute, last year, sales remained more than 20% lower than their 2019 level. It must be understood that the situation of Sergent Major or Du Pareil au Même has absolutely nothing to do with brands like Camaïeu, Go Sport or Gap which have failed due to poor management and a series of cases linked to their Bordeaux billionaire owner, Michel Ohayon, who recently paid the Chronicle.
Restructuring plan
It is planned to close or sell 47 Sergent Major stores; 87 at Du Pareil au Even all in France. For the moment, we do not know the exact impact on employment. The leaders will develop a digital strategy to achieve 25% of their online sales by 2027 and will invest five million euros. It remains for the courts to decide.