André, Camaïeu, Gap France, Go Sport… The carnage continues in ready-to-wear with the end of another brand, that of the shoemaker San Marina, placed this Monday February 20 in compulsory liquidation, leading to its fall 650 employees in around 160 stores. The commercial court of Marseille, the city where the brand was created in 1981, considers that“no serious takeover project could be supported and the current leaders were unable to bring their reserve offer project to fruition, for lack of an investor”.
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In his decision, he therefore pronounces the immediate cessation of activity, in the face of “to a situation that it is no longer possible to rectify and which is getting worse day by day”.
“The web has killed us… and bad management too”
Saturday evening, the curtains of the stores were thus lowered for the last time, and the phone calls between employees multiplied in the face of this liquidation which had become inevitable. There ” distress “ was palpable, says Helmi Farhat, secretary of the Corporate Social Committee (CSE) and CGT representative of employees.
“It’s such a shock, we never found ourselves unemployed”reacted on Wednesday a saleswoman from a store in Bouches-du-Rhône.
The hardest, “It’s for older colleagues, who have thirty years in the box” : “When you see French brands closing, it’s scary. The web, it killed us, and then bad management too”she analyzed.
On the merchant site, the brand specializing in women’s shoes and leather goods soberly informs customers that” a page turns “ After “42 years”.
Negotiations underway for a severance bonus
The hope of a San Marina rescue had faded in early February. Stéphane Collaert, who had bought the brand from Vivarte at the start of 2020, and Laurent Portella had planned to take over a little less than a third of the stores in France, by selling their majority share to attract other investors, in particular suppliers to the brand. , but without success.
Of the ten takeover offers subsequently submitted, only three had been supported on February 10, none of which met “the conditions of the law to be retained in receivership”had explained Bernard Bouquet, the lawyer of San Marina.
Nor did they save the jobs of the group’s 650 or so employees, according to Helmi Farhat. From now on, employees are trying to negotiate a ” prime “ departure and a meeting is scheduled for Thursday. The CGT is demanding two months’ salary per employee, knowing that the last proposal was up to 1,000 euros, adds the trade unionist.
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The leaders assured in a press release that they will now concentrate their ” energy “ to support employees, with the services of the State, “so that they find a job in the best conditions”.
Hecatomb in ready-to-wear
Like other brands in the sector, San Marina, with an estimated turnover of 79 million euros in 2022 (compared to 63 million euros in 2021) but liabilities close to 56 million euros, suffered in particular from social movements such as the yellow vests and then from the health crisis of 2020 and its consequences.
To these, but also to competition from online sales and the boom in the second-hand market, have been added in recent months to inflation as well as the rise in the cost of raw materials and energy, dealing the deathblow to several already weakened ready-to-wear groups, particularly in the mid-range.
This was particularly the case of the shoemaker André, the first textile distribution company to bear the brunt of the health crisis. Less than three years after its placement in receivership and the partial takeover of its stores, the shoe brand returned to the commercial court in early February.
And the list continues to grow, with the liquidation of Camaïeu in September, the placement in receivership of Go Sport in January, followed by those of Gap France and Kookaï in February.
“It becomes sad because there are several signs that have closed and this may continue. Is it because people buy on the internet? Me, I want to see and touch before I buy”commented on Wednesday, in front of a San Marina store in Marseille, Pierre Scopelliti, 67, a loyal customer of the brand.
