Clergerie is struggling to get out of this new rut. After first filing for receivership in 2023, and subsequently being acquired by a US group, the footwear brand based in Romans-sur-Isère, France, has again been placed in receivership. The proceedings formally opened late last year at the trade court in Romans-sur-Isère, where Clergerie operates a production site, and FashionNetwork.com has learnt that the court-appointed receivers are looking for a buyer.

Nearly two years ago, Clergerie was bought by US group Titan Footwear following commercial court proceedings in Paris, having filed for receivership in March 2023. However, Joe Ouaknine, businessman and owner of Titan Footwear, hasn’t been able to revive Clergerie. Was it for lack of investment, or because the market is too disrupted? Last November, the brand’s French factory, which used to produce nearly 500 pairs of shoes a week, was shut down, and its workers were put on short-term unemployment, as local paper Ici Drome Ardèche reported. According to some workers, production later resumed but only in “fits and starts,” and with “constant raw materials supply issues.”

52 jobs at two companies at risk

The public notice recently published by the court-appointed receivers to find potential new owners relates to two companies. The first is responsible for the manufacturing activity at the factory in Romans, a 3,800-square-metre facility that currently employs 32 workers. In the 14 months ending on August 31, 2024, the company generated a revenue of €4.5 million.

The second company is looking after the products’ commercialisation via the retail and wholesale channels, and online. It includes a factory outlet in Romans, a directly owned store in Paris, and several department store corners (at Galeries Lafayette, Printemps, and Le Bon Marché), and generated a revenue of €4.9 million over the same period. The second company has 20 employees.

Interested parties have until March 18 to put forward their bids. Clergerie also operates a few stores outside France, in Madrid, London and the USA, but they don’t seem to be included in this potential sale.

The brand was founded in 1981 by Robert Clergerie, and is one of the last bastions of French footwear production. It benefits from a long-standing industrial heritage, since Romans-sur-Isère has been a shoe manufacturing hub since the end of the 19th century. A few other iconic footwear brands hail from the same area, like Stéphane Kélian – owned by the Royer group and about to be relaunched – and Charles Jourdan, also owned by Royer but currently dormant. Charles Jourdan’s old factory in Romans, disused since 2010, used to employ up to 3,000 people in its heyday, but it is about to be demolished to make room for a secondary school, as reported by Le Dauphiné Libéré.

Perhaps a leading luxury name, or a footwear manufacturer, could be interested in buying Clergerie to stop its factory suffering the same fate.