On Thursday December 12, the Paris commercial court decided on the future of French premium ready-to-wear retailer IKKS. At the end of a receivership procedure involving several purchasing bids for IKKS, the court has approved the offer by Santiago Cucci, who was named president of the group’s holding company HoldIKKS last year, and Michaël Benabou, co-founder of event sales site Veepee.
Inside an IKKS store – IKKS
The court’s decision has put an end to months of uncertainty for IKKS’s employees. According to figures drawn up by the receivers at the end of August, the group’s staff numbered 1,287 worldwide, 1,094 of them in France. At the time, the group had 473 stores between France and 11 other countries, plus headquarters in the town of Saint-Macaire-en-Mauges and offices in Paris.
IKKS gave a design make-over to its collections in summer, and in September it applied for receivership, after the group’s main shareholders, US investment funds Avenue Capital, CarVal Investors and Marathon Asset Management, expressed their wish to sell the company.
The IKKS group, which operates the eponymous brand as well as One Step and ICode, is still a leading international ready-to-wear retailer in the premium segment, operating several hundred retail outlets (between directly owned and franchised stores, and concessions) in nine countries. The path to new ownership has been complex, since the group was split in several entities, and none of the purchasing bids referred to the group as a whole.
The winning bid’s details
Cucci and Benabou have convinced the court after recently revising their bid upwards. Initially, the bid related to 141 stores, 88 of them directly owned, and 391 company employees.
The deal was clinched after the bid was extended to include 219 stores in France: 92 of them directly owned, 100 franchised, plus 27 Galeries Lafayette concessions. The employees associated to the directly owned stores are 546.
Benabou and Cucci, a former senior executive at Levi’s and a strategic advisor to G-Star, have taken over the IKKS business and are planning to operate a more streamlined store fleet. They will focus on womenswear and menswear, while childrenswear has been put on hold.
The dossiers given to prospective buyers indicated that the IKKS brand accounted for 80% of the group’s revenue, that 64% of its revenue was generated by womenswear, 21% by childrenswear, and 15% by menswear. When the company applied for receivership, direct retail accounted for 77% of revenue, e-commerce (both B2B and B2C) for 20%, and the remaining 3% was generated through the wholesale channel.
Rejected bids
The bid by sustainable fashion brand Faguo, which had been revised to include 15 stores and 30 jobs, was rejected. French group Beaumanoir (which owns womenswear brands Morgan and Caroll) had teamed up with Faguo, offering €1 million to buy the IKKS brand name and some of the stores.
Another rejected bid was put forward by Salih Halassi’s company Amoniss, a shareholder in Pimkie which recently acquired Christine Laure and Chevignon. It initially bid for a minimum of 168 stores and 393 employees.
BCRI Holding, which recently bought Café Coton, initially offered to buy 67 stores with a total of 426 employees. While AA Investments (owner of Smallable, L’Exception and Bonne Gueule) was interested in IKKS’s intangible assets. Verdoso, new owner of The Kooples, withdrew its bid before the November 28 hearing.
Since none of the bids related to the Icode and One Step brands, and to IKKS childrenswear, some of the latter’s stores in France have now closed. The new owners are therefore concentrating on the IKKS brand, out of a group fleet that had 550 stores as of the end of 2024, though streamlining measures started in H1 this year.
The brand’s employees are now hoping IKKS will be able to regain momentum as a recognised name in the premium ready-to-wear segment.
Aditya Birla Group’s corporate social enterprise Aadyam Handwoven has named Sobhita Dhulipala as its new brand ambassador, who will contribute to the brand’s ‘Culture Beyond Textiles’ vision of preserving India’s weaving legacies.
Sobhita Dhulipala wearing a saree by Aadyam Handwoven – Aadyam Handwoven
“Aadyam has always stood for the people behind the loom, the cultures that shape our craft, and the traditions that continue to evolve. Sobhita is a woman of today who exemplifies this thinking with an innate sensitivity that is in tandem with our narrative,” said Aadyam Handwoven’s business lead Manish Saksena in a press release. “Her connect to handlooms is personal and intuitive, and her presence strengthens our endeavour to make Indian craftsmanship aspirational for a new generation.”
Aadyam Handwoven retails fashion and homeware goods designed to highlight Indian textile heritage and translate it for modern shoppers. The label aims to harness Dhulipala’s pan-India popularity to raise awareness about the brand and its textile ecosystem.
“I’ve always believed that craft carries emotion,” said Sobhita Dhulipala. “When something is made by hand, it holds the imprint of the person who created it. Aadyam’s work with weaving communities, combined with its philosophy of celebrating culture in all its forms, makes this association very special for me. I am honoured to lend my voice to a brand that champions artistry with purpose.”
One year on from his passing, Catalan fashion company Mango is commemorating the legacy of Isak Andic. In memory of its founder, who lost his life on December 14, 2024 in a tragic mountaineering accident in Barcelona, Mango has undertaken a series of commemorative initiatives across its stores and corporate channels to highlight the business, human, and philanthropic legacy of the entrepreneur, born in Istanbul in 1953.
Exterior of the Catalan brand’s store on Paseo de Gracia in Barcelona, adorned with a special tribute to Isak Andic. – Mango
In this context, some of the company’s most emblematic stores have dressed their windows with a portrait of Andic and messages inside that evoke his legacy. Specifically, the tributes have reached its stores from Paseo de Gracia in Barcelona to Serrano in Madrid, as well as international locations such as Oxford Street in London, Fifth Avenue in New York, and the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele in Milan. In parallel, Mango added a black ribbon to its e-commerce platform and shared a commemorative video on its internal channels and social media.
The audiovisual tribute, produced by company employees drawing on hours of archival footage and interviews, captures the founder’s lessons and reflections in his own voice. “Isak was a visionary who transformed a personal dream into a global brand. His legacy remains a constant source of inspiration for all of us,” the company shared on its LinkedIn profile alongside the video, adding that “his spirit lives on in every step we take towards the future, as we continue to work to fulfil his vision and ensure that Mango is a project he would be proud of.”
For his part, the group’s CEO and executive chairman, Toni Ruiz, shared a personal letter addressed to Andic, both internally and on his LinkedIn profile, in which he reaffirmed that the values that defined the founder will guide the brand’s next steps. In it, he remembers Andic as “a brilliant entrepreneur and an exceptional person,” stressing that “there has not been a single day on which we have not remembered him.” “Mango continues to sail steadily towards new horizons,” he said.
Ruiz recalled the conversations and ideas left unfinished and highlighted the trust that the founder placed in the team, noting that “Mango is made up of excellent professionals and even better people.” The executive also reviewed the milestones of the past year, from double-digit growth to international expansion and momentum across all product lines, as well as progress at Mango Campus and the company’s focus on innovation and artificial intelligence- areas that Andic always emphasised. “What could have been a difficult year, we have together turned into a historic one,” he stressed. The letter concludes with a message of gratitude on behalf of the 17,000 people who make up the company and with the phrase the founder often repeated: “the sky is the limit.”
In parallel, during the last year there have also been significant changes in the structure of the family holding company that owns Mango. Following the death of Isak Andic, his three children reorganised the family’s companies under Punta Na Holding, the entity that brings together the family investment vehicles and controls the vast majority of the fashion company’s capital. In this context, the eldest son, Jonathan Andic, stepped down in June from his position as global director of Mango Man, a role he had held for 17 years, to focus fully on managing the family’s investment companies, which include business and property investments, sharing corporate governance responsibilities with his sisters Sarah and Judith.
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Expanding women’s fashion retailer Wyse London is set to open a pop-up store in Edinburgh, Scotland, on Saturday (13 December).
Wyse London
The 550 sq ft space on Frederick Street isn’t just for Christmas as it’s opening until next May, housing the brand’s latest styles from its Autumn/Winter collection, including bestsellers the Liana Chunky Funnel Neck Jumper, Philippa Pea Coat and festive dresses and tops.
The pop-up marks the latest in a series of new store openings, “following the successful introduction to the North of England” in York in September. That became its fourth permanent UK store, joining the brand’s two in London – Chelsea and Marylebone – as well as Southwold, Suffolk.
More stores, both pop-up and permanent, are planned over 2026 both nationally and internationally, the retailer said.
Founder Marielle Wyse added: “Edinburgh has become an increasingly significant city for us, as we’ve seen a rapidly growing community of customers shopping with us online, so opening a physical pop-up feels like the natural next step.
“The city’s cultural heritage and vibrant population offers a setting that aligns perfectly with our brand values, while the thriving tourism scene brings an energy and international audience we’re excited to welcome. With a discerning retail landscape, the city gives us a unique opportunity to build deeper relationships with both existing and new customers.”
Politics8 years ago