Dive Brief:

• Clergerie, the French footwear brand known for its menswear styling, is now in receivership after filing for court protection on March 29, according to WWD.
• Jerome Espinos, president of parent company French Legacy Group, told WWD the pandemic and war in Ukraine was too much for the shoe brand to handle. “We hit a wall with the decrease of traffic in stores, longer lead times and delays in deliveries from suppliers,” he said.
• Espinos, a former executive with Charles Jourdan and Ralph Lauren, launched FLG and purchased Clergerie in 2020. FLG is managed by Swiss private equity fund Mirabaud Patrimoine Vivant, which also owns French sportswear company Le Coq Sportif.

Dive Insight:

Clergerie is looking for new funding after failing to find its footing in the wake of difficult global economic conditions.

The brand now has six months to find new financing with the help of a court-appointed judge, and will continue operating as normal during the process.

Espinos told WWD, “the situation at Clergerie Group was very fragile at the time of our takeover.” Despite this, FLG opened new stores and currently operates 19 freestanding boutiques worldwide. “Turnover has doubled in the space of two years,” he added.

That said, the expansion didn’t meet expectations. The company told Footwear News it planned for 25 stand-alone stores worldwide by the end of 2022, but the pandemic and resulting supply chain problems proved too challenging. Espinos told WWD that Clergerie would look for a revised financial structure while under the protection of the French commercial court system. Clergerie didn’t respond to a request for comments as of press time.

FLG, which also owns Avril Gau and Violet Tomas, has previously worked with other floundering brands, saving French footwear brand Ateliers Heschung from receivership and bankruptcy in 2020. 

Swiss banking group Mirebaud Asset Management has been funding the expansion and acquisition of multiple French companies through Mirabaud Patrimoine Vivant fund, which has a stake in footwear brand Carel, womenswear brand Anne Fontaine, and Le Coq Sportif, in addition to managing FLG, which in turn owns Clergerie. Mirabaud Patrimoine Vivant is managed by Renaud Dutreil, former French minister of civil service and ex-LVMH executive.

Robert Clergerie, which was founded in 1981, changed its name to Clergerie in 2018 after a rebrand. After selling a controlling stake to investors in 1996 and leaving the brand entirely in 2001, founder Robert Clergerie returned in 2005 to help bring the brand back from the brink. He stayed on another seven years before selling to First Heritage Brands, who subsequently sold it to FLG. Of his company, Clergerie once said, it’s “like a woman I loved madly – and now there is someone else in her bed.”