Ikks Saved from Bankruptcy as HoldIkks Chief and Veepee Co-Founder Intervene

The rescue of Ikks comes at the last minute, but it arrives. The Paris court of economic activities validated this Friday the offer submitted by Santiago Cucci, current president of the HoldIkks holding company, and Michaël Benabou, co-founder of Veepee (formerly Vente-Privée). The proposal was also the one preferred by the staff representatives on the works council.

The scope of the plan outlines a tough adjustment in France. The offer saves 546 jobs out of 1,094. In other words: 385 jobs in stores and 161 at headquarters. In parallel, it preserves 219 outlets out of a total of 473. The result places a group that is left with half of its muscle to try to keep the brand’s pulse.

From the union environment, the verdict is read as the least bad option in a bidding that was deflating. Sébastien Hervé, departmental secretary of Cfdt Services in Maine-et-Loire, where the headquarters is located, admitted to AFP that the solution approved “is very difficult for employment and the fabric of stores,“ but defends that it ensures a future for Ikks and protects the structure needed to relaunch it. In his opinion, it was “the only offer” that was really in a position to prevail.

The attractiveness of the proposal, added the labor representatives, lies in the profile of the duo, with an executive who knows the clothing business from the inside and a partner with financial and retail experience. The Cucci-Benabou duo will contribute 700,000 euros to the employment protection plan and promises to invest 16 million euros in Ikks.

Ikks will save more than fifty jobs out of the one thousand potentially affected

The project also starts with an explicit refocusing. The buyers want to concentrate the strategy on Ikks’ adult lines and on the French market. Fewer fronts, less dispersion and a smaller map to sustain the business.

The behind-the-scenes of the process helps to understand why the court has ended up opting for this option. Out of eleven initial bids, only three were still standing before the hearing at the end of November. Along the way, there was a proliferation of proposals aimed at capturing specific stores, not necessarily at sustaining the brand. AFP cites, for example, the interest of the Nantes brand Faguo in a handful of locations (Biarritz, Deauville and Les Sables d’Olonne) and the Beaumanoir group’s focus on three outlets: Metz, Nancy and Aix-en-Provence.

While the proceedings were being resolved, the closure of shutters was ahead of the judicial calendar. In cities such as Besançon, Nancy and Angers, some stores began to pull down the shutters before the decision. A union representative claims that Ikks management anticipated the plan and the ruling by closing certain stores to the public in order to start ordering stocks.

The Ikks case brings back to the table the point of tension of ready-to-wear in France, with the impact of second-hand and the push of ultra-fashion on the front line.