Lacroix files Chapter 11
It was recently reported in Women’s Wear Daily that the design house of Christian Lacroix is filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection:
“Our intent is definitely a continuation of the business,” Nicolas Topiol, Lacroix’s chief executive officer, said in an interview before meeting with the firm’s 125 employees. “But the crisis has definitely hit us below the knees.”
Topiol said orders for the fall-winter season sank 35 percent, with many retail buyers skipping Paris Fashion Week altogether.
Lacroix won wide acclaim in March for his chic take on Parisian style, from tapered peacoats to draped jersey dresses, but the venue — a shabby parking garage in the Marais district — spoke to the firm’s financial constrictions.
Topiol declined to say how much creditors are owed — principally suppliers and general service providers — but said losses have ballooned to about 10 million euros, or about $14 million at current exchange, on revenues that have shriveled to about 30 million euros, or $42 million.
In my opinion, sometimes the fashion houses need a shake up. If I had a fashion line that had no choice but to appear in a parking garage, I would have ditched the live fashion show altogether. I would have invested in a few hip backdrops and would have staged an exclusive web only pod casted fashion show. With the right smoke and mirrors, no one would have known it wasn’t at a posh location. The show would have had additional staying power as people watched it many hours after the actual event was to take place. In fact, there could have been no live event at all. The other alternative was to make it look like the parking garage was avant gard and went with a theme.
Many designers have found new life with creating items for mass market stores, such as Vera Wang and Isaac Mizrahi. Should Lacroix go back to his roots of design and try his hand at designing something that could be mass produced? Do you think Lacroix should stay as it is, but scale back? Do you think the greates hits of the Spring 2009 fashion show was too little too late? If people aren’t buying, I always say either you are not promoting yourself, you have started to ignore the original people whose interest you built your business on the backs of, or you are mismanaging the wallet.
The latest news is that a Swiss group of investors is looking to purchase Lacroix? Will the name alone be a good investment? Will Lacroix go the way of many other designers and just be a name slapped onto items of various origins, or will the new structure be the same old business, but with better watch dogs?
What do you think?
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