CWF Fortifies Position in Kids’ Fashion Market with Catimini Purchase

CWF expands its brand portfolio. The French children’s fashion giant has announced the acquisition of Catimini, also a French children’s fashion company, which is going through a delicate economic moment. The group currently has sixteen brands, thirteen of which it operates under license.

As the company has published on its professional social networks, the group intends to “return to the roots of the brand”, with the purchase of “a premium brand” in line with “the commitment to heritage, craftsmanship and authenticity”.

According to the latest information published, Catimini is changing hands after having reduced its stores from 2023 and suspended operations in 2024. CWF, for its part, recorded a turnover of more than 210 million euros in the 2024 fiscal year.

CWF has sixteen brands, thirteen of which it operates under license.

Catimini was founded in 1972 by Paul and Monique Salmon, with art, color and graphic freedom at the center, understood as “a play space for children where prints tell stories, shapes move naturally and imagination has no limits,“ reports CFW.

The CWFgroup works with brands such as Givenchy, Chloé, Lanvin, Kenzo kids, Marc Jacobs, Sonia Rykiel, Hugo, Karl Lagerfeld, Zadig&Voltaire, Dkny, Boss, Michael Kors, Timberland and Billieblush. It has several Kids Around concept stores. The group’s own stores are located in Paris, London, Milan, Dubai, Tehran, Beirut, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta and Delhi.

The group, with a sixty-year history, is present in 83 countries. It has 29 showrooms, works with fifteen distribution agents and six subsidiaries. It currently has 2,500 points of sale, 344 department stores and operates 39 online sales websites.

CWF has also announced its first collection for spring-summer 2027 aimed at children aged 2 to 14. The group renewed its top management at the end of 2023, with the departure of Alain Pourcelot, who started in the position at the beginning of the year. Following the executive’s departure, Pascal Leblanc, the company’s CEO, took over his duties.