Confident shoemaker Arche launches its turnaround plan

Shoe manufacturer Arche is once again looking ahead. In early 2024, the French company applied for court-supervised receivership, after difficulties that had been mounting since 2018. Faced with the need to keep pace with a changing market, the directors of the family business chose this collective procedure. They have emphasised that the receivership was merely a phase, which has now been put behind the business. It served to facilitate Arche’s repositioning and to prepare funding for communications around its new identity: premium and contemporary.

Framed this way to employees as well as to partners and distributors, the receivership has given way to a ten-year continuation plan launched last August. ‘This turning point is paying off,’ says Frédéric Jacob, the group’s managing director for the past four years. Arche now faces the challenge of attracting a new generation of female customers, convincing retailers and customers of its new identity, and accelerating its digital transformation. To this end, the company is supported by the Centre-Val de Loire region, Business France and the French Footwear Federation, with assistance for commercial prospecting and participation in trade fairs.

An urban, contemporary offering

In line with its repositioning, the brand will also scale back its discounting policy, a system deemed outdated, if not ‘disrespectful’, in the words of group president Catherine Hélaine. This decision is accompanied by a revamp of Arche’s range. This winter, the brand is offering trainers with a registered design, made from leathers of the same quality as those used across its other ranges. The collection also includes tall women’s boots in unlined leather and ankle boots lined with sheepskin. Colours include Scott green, Volnay light burgundy, black, and several shades of brown, with prices ranging from 350 to 699 euros (excluding ballet flats).

For summer 2026, the Arche collection includes more trainers- this time slip-ons- perforated styles, ballet flats, and urban sandals, as well as sleek shoes. The upcoming collection makes extensive use of metallic colours and storytelling centred on Paris, aimed at an international clientele.

Arche shoes will continue to be made in France

All Arche products are made to order in the company’s workshops in Château-Renault, in the Loire Valley. The business has a team of 81 people, which is set to grow by 5% with a new recruitment wave. The challenge is to renew and expand teams by training them in-house, at a time when there are no longer any formal training programmes for the shoemaking trades in France. For reference, making a single shoe requires between 130 and 140 manual operations.

Last July, Arche was awarded the ‘Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant’ (EPV) label for safeguarding craftsmanship and championing Made in France. This new label is being highlighted to the brand’s customers and partners as a new sales pitch.

Arche targets the Middle East market

Since its founding, the shoe manufacturer has always looked outward, generating 70% of its sales in Europe, Asia, and Oceania. The directors have just returned from trade fairs in the US, Japan, and South Korea. In the latter market, Arche has just signed an agreement with the Shinsegae department store group. The family business also aims to position itself in the Middle East, in Saudi Arabia and Dubai, which is its priority for the next three seasons. Arche has also reinvested in certain regions of the US, entering into partnerships with premium stores.

International operations posed an additional challenge for the company amid restructuring, not least because of US customs duties and Japanese exchange rates. Management’s response to these challenges was a hands-on presence in the field, alongside its partners. The ‘new customs barriers’ led Arche’s US partners to make budget cuts. Frédéric Jacob emphasises that, despite this, Arche has not been dropped by these distributors, thanks to the strength of its Made in France credentials and traceability.

A potential return to Parisian department stores

To manage its presence abroad, Arche is focusing on sell-out- that is, ensuring collections are sold through in a way that aligns with the brand’s identity. To this end, it supports sales teams by providing educational modules on its offer. It also provides its distribution partners with ready-to-use communication kits. Finally, as Frédéric Jacob points out, it can replenish stock worldwide from Château-Renault within 72 hours.

Arche operates five stores of its own in France, in Bordeaux, Nantes, and Strasbourg, and in Paris on Boulevard Saint‑Germain and Boulevard de la Madeleine. It also has five corners in Japan, where it has been present for 40 years, in Kobe, Osaka, Yokohama, and Tokyo (two corners). Beyond these addresses, Frédéric Jacob highlights the brand’s ‘real success’ in department stores abroad, including in Germany, and indicates that Arche could make a comeback in French department stores (mainly in Paris), where the footwear category presents an opportunity.

Founded in 1968, the brand recorded sales of 20 million euros in the 2024 financial year. Without disclosing further figures, its directors stress the robustness of its business plan, approved by the commercial court. ‘We’re set for the next 50 years, that’s clear,’ says Catherine Hélaine. ‘We had to adapt, and we have done so- not without effort or complexity,’ she continues, referring to a ‘tsunami’ in consumer behaviour. There is still plenty to do for Arche, which looks to the future with confidence.