Assorted mother-daughter collections, casual chic pieces, accomplices silhouettes and transgenerational cloakroom… This cult brand from the 90s has dressed thousands of women looking for a cool and refined look. But today, after André, Naf Naf or Jennyfer, this other flagship of French fashion may well disappear from the holders.
In the ready-to-wear world, bad news is linked. The fashion brands, large or small, struggled to keep their heads out of the water. Even the well -known brands do not escape it: Jennyfer and Naf Naf have already had to go through the receivership box. And today, it is the turn of another French brand from the 90s to be in danger. Created in 1995, she has long appealed to women with her clothes thought for mother-daughter duets-a concept that fits well at the time, with the fashion of matching looks. But that was not enough to bring the customers back or relaunch sales. This brand is Comptoir des Cotonniers.
She has not changed her owner since 2005, a sign of stability, but that has not protected her. For several years, the brand has chained restructuring and strategy changes. In the spring of 2024, it lowered its prices by 30 %. The goal? Given attractive again, reaching a wider audience. On the collection side, she tries to get closer to Uniqlo, the flagship brand of the same group. Result: collaborations between the two brands, with common collections and the opening of Corners Comptoir des Cotonniers in certain Uniqlo stores, such as that of Rivoli. The idea is to take advantage of Uniqlo’s notoriety to gain visibility. But despite all these efforts, sales continue to lower: 72.2 million euros in 2019/2020, against 63.4 million in 2022/2023.
In store, the teams clearly say: the offer no longer sticks to the expectations of French customers. Management would have simply copied UNIQLO’s strategy in Japan, without really adapting it to the French market. Result: too basic fashion, too far from the original style of the brand. The collections have lost what made their strength: trendy pieces, easy to wear, which spoke as much to mothers as in their daughters. On Friday, June 20, the Fast Retailing group, owner of the brand, asked for its investment in receivership from the Paris economic activity court. In question: 50 shops in France and a hundred threatened jobs, after years of losses.
It may not be lost. Frédéric Biouss, former managing director, said he was ready to support a recovery to avoid the disappearance of this emblematic brand. To follow.
