Catimini Clothing Brand Implements Recovery Plan, Closing 44 Stores in France by December

2023-07-22 07:12:10

The children’s clothing brand Catimini announced on Tuesday that it plans to close 44 stores in France by December as part of a recovery plan proposed by its leaders to “reduce the losses suffered by the company”, already in difficulty when it joined the IDKIDS group in 2020.

“The management team presented this July 18 to the staff representatives a project for the recovery of the company”, indicated Catimini on Tuesday in a press release, which should “allow both to reduce the losses suffered by the company and to allow, tomorrow, to redeploy the brand ”, without layoffs.

This recovery plan “provides for the closure of 44 stores mainly in France, Belgium and Luxembourg”. In our country, Catimini has two stores and a presence in 3 INNO stores. According to our colleagues from Echo, the Liège store will close its doors this weekend, and the Charleroi store (4 jobs) is targeted by the recovery project, and therefore condemned. Catimini is also present in the three INNO stores. The presence of the chain within the fashion giant will end in the fall.

“Significant difficulties”

The Catimini brand was already experiencing “significant difficulties” when it joined IDKIDS in 2020, a group that brings together an ecosystem of 18 brands of products and services for children aged 0 to 12.

Despite two recovery plans – which “require a long time and means that IDKIDS does not currently have” – and in the face of “the requirement of the global economic context (rising costs of materials, energy, inflation, new consumption habits, etc.), IDKIDS must now “focus its investments on shorter-term developments and projects”, specifies the press release.

Catimini will therefore now focus “its offer on its iconic products”. Concretely, the brand will be “offered in capsule format” and distributed in the group’s multi-brand networks (IDKIDS and idkids.fr stores)“, as well as wholesale.

“A major mobility plan within the other brands of the IDKIDS group should make it possible to greatly limit the social impact of this project”, via a “job safeguard plan” to support the 89 employees of Catimini, promises the brand in its press release.

“With a large network of 484 stores”, the IDKIDS group, which has a total of 6,000 employees and 1,300 stores in 65 countries, “can offer each Catimini employee opportunities for intra-group mobility”, it is specified.

The ready-to-wear sector in France has been shaken for several months by a violent crisis, which resulted in particular in the liquidation of Camaïeu in September 2022 and the placements in receivership of Go Sport, Gap France and Kookaï in early 2023.

1690016723
#clothing #brand #closes #stores #Belgium #stores #concerned