French ready-to-wear is going through an unprecedented crisis. Many brands are forced to lower the curtain, the fault of an unfavorable dynamic in the environment. In particular: a hijacking of customers to Chinese platforms, cheaper.
The difficulties accumulate in French ready-to-wear. After Jennyfer, Pimkie or Gap France, it’s Naf Naf’s turn to enter into turbulence zone. The brand, placed in receivership, could be partially taken up by the Beaumanoir group. But despite this acquisition, more than 400 people out of the 600 that the brand has could end up on the tile.
Especially since for Aurélie Flisar, secretary general CFDT, this stop for the historic giants of French textiles is not surprising. “It is a sector which, perhaps, had too many players. It was too competitive sector. And so, what is happening today was rather inevitable in this very weakened sector that is the retail trade in clothing,” she explains at the microphone of Europe 1.
Competition from China
However, our cupboards are not upset, quite the contrary. According to the Refashion eco-organization, the French bought 42 clothes per person last year, a record. “People are buying more and more clothes, but the budget only drops. It has been 15 years since the turnover of the sector is decreasing. Chinese platforms invade the European market and therefore people are tempted to buy parts that do not last and make you buy more clothes on these Chinese platforms,” insists the economist Pascale Hébel.
According to the Commerce Alliance Federation, the textile sector has lost nearly 47,000 jobs between 2013 and 2024.
