"Once again, employees are placed in a situation of extreme uncertainty": yet another judicial recovery in sight for the Naf Naf brand

The impression of a perpetual cycle for the ready-to-wear brand Naf Naf, whose accounts have never recovered from the Covid-19 pandemic . On Wednesday, May 21, the group's employees were informed by their management that it would be filing for the women's fashion company to be placed in receivership, with a view to a continuation plan.

"The catastrophic scenario we feared is repeating itself, less than a year after the takeover by the Turkish group Migiboy," the CFDT said in a statement. The request was made to the commercial court in Bobigny (Seine-Saint-Denis). The company's employees learned the news during an extraordinary Social and Economic Council (CSE) meeting held on Wednesday morning.

In its opinion today, consulted by Agence France-Presse (AFP), the staff representation said it was "deeply shocked by the request for judicial reorganization , which comes less than a year after the takeover." The CSE denounced a "false concealment of the company's true situation" in recent months on the part of management. "Once again, employees are placed in a situation of extreme uncertainty and see their jobs threatened," deplores the CFDT, according to which Naf Naf will employ some 700 people in 2025. Contacted by AFP, the group's management did not wish to comment on the situation.

The Turkish buyer had committed in June 2024 to saving 90% of jobs and retaining around 100 of its own stores. At the time, Migiboy paid more than €1.5 million to take over the French brand. The company then retained 521 of its 586 jobs and 99 stores in France, then took over subsidiaries in Spain, Italy, and Belgium. The manufacturer acquired the brand from another Turkish company, SY International, which had itself intervened with Naf Naf during a receivership in 2020.

The group then promised to retain 944 of the 1,170 jobs recorded and 200 of the 235 stores. SY International declared the ready-to-wear brand insolvent in September 2023. The procedure resulted in receivership and the loss of 88 jobs, following the closure of stores.

The Naf Naf brand was a major player in its sector in the 1990s, with sales in the millions. By the mid-2000s, the group boasted nearly 500 stores scattered across France. Its founders finally sold it in 2007 for approximately €200 million to the Vivarte group. Faced with the brand's financial difficulties and mounting debt over the years, the latter decided to separate from Naf Naf eleven years later. Vivarte ultimately sold the brand to a Chinese consortium led by the retailer La Chapelle for €52 million.

The fashion brand then faced a series of setbacks, with a third application for receivership in the last five years. Naf Naf notably had to go into debt during the pandemic, due to unpaid rent. This trajectory comes at a particularly difficult time for French textile companies, from Camaïeu to Kookaï, including Gap France , André, San Marina, Minelli, Pimkie, Comptoir des Cotonniers, Princesse Tam Tam, IKKS and Kaporal. According to calculations by L'Humanité , more than 8,000 jobs were cut or were threatened with disappearance between September 2022 and March 2023, across twelve different brands.

These difficulties are fueled by the rise of fast fashion on a global scale, of which the Shein website is a sad symbol . This ephemeral fashion, with its very low prices and very frequently updated collections, is eating away at market share in France every day. The economic model of older, cheaper brands thus appears to be a relic of another era.

Another factor behind this crisis: growing awareness of the harmful environmental impacts caused by the textile industry (which accounts for 10% of greenhouse gas emissions). Clothing consumption, for example, fell by 17% between 2009 and 2020, according to figures from the consulting firm Syndex. This combination of factors is seriously damaging brands like Naf Naf.