The Marseille commercial court placed Minelli in receivership this Thursday, September 28, in order to “prepare the transfer (of the shoemaker) to a new shareholder to guarantee the most efficient continuation of the business,” management announced. The brand specializing in shoes, which was taken over at the beginning of 2022 by the managers of the Marseille brand San Marina, now liquidated, employs 500 employees and has 120 stores and corners in France. The receivership “will allow the company to benefit from a breath of financial oxygen”, management hopes.
The brand of shoes intended mainly for women, and leather goods, was created in 1973, and at the beginning of 2022 still had 700 employees in 14 countries. It had been sold by the former French textile flagship Vivarte (formerly the André group) to Stéphane Collaert, who with Laurent Portella had already bought the San Marina brand from the former French flagship two years earlier. The latter was liquidated last February by the Marseille commercial court, which regretted that “no serious takeover project could be supported and (that) the current managers were unable to bring their recovery project to fruition.” reserve offer, lack of investor”. 650 employees in around 160 stores of this brand founded in 1981 in Bouches-du-Rhône were thus left behind.
The ready-to-wear sector in France has been shaken for several months by a violent crisis. Camaïeu, Burton of London, Gap France, André, San Marina, Kaporal, Don’t Call Me Jennyfer, Du Pareil au Meilleur, Sergent Major, Naf Naf… These brands well known to French consumers suffered from an explosive cocktail : pandemic, inflation, rising costs of energy, raw materials, rents and salaries or even competition from second-hand goods and fast fashion.
It was fatal for certain brands, which were liquidated, such as Camaïeu in September 2022, with, as a result, the dismissal of 2,100 employees which had strongly marked people’s minds. Some are in receivership, like Naf Naf or Burton of London. Without reaching this point, others are still scaling back, cutting staff numbers and closing stores, such as Princesse Tam Tam, Comptoir des Cotonniers (Fast Retailing group) or Pimkie.