Twelve Camaïeu stores open in France and Belgium, two years after the brand’s liquidation

Two years after its sudden liquidation, Camaïeu is making a comeback. The Celio group, which bought the brand in 2022, opened the first of a series of 12 stores in Lille with great fanfare on Wednesday, August 28. The Camaïeu brand is thus relaunched, but without its employees.

100 people recruited

It also benefits from a new logo: “Be Camaïeu”. The brand thus becomes Celio’s women’s line, intended in particular to be sold in enlarged Celio stores. “We are very proud, since we have had a lot of affection for 40 years, Camaïeu is a brand (…) which is developing in parallel, Celio being the leader for men, Camaïeu being the leader for women”stressed Celio president Sébastien Bismuth, who came to inaugurate the boutique in Lille, near the birthplace of the brand created in Roubaix.

In total, 100 people have been recruited, including ten former Camaïeu employees, for 12 stores in France and Belgium. In addition to Brussels, stores in Évry (Essonne), Metz (Moselle), Valence (Drôme) and Anglet (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) for example are ready to welcome customers. The Euralille store, with its 1200 m², is the largest the group has ever had, which wants to comply with the “international standards”The ready-to-wear collections are also available online again.

Camaïeu, the symbol of liquidations in the clothing sector

Once the flagship of women’s ready-to-wear in France, Camaïeu, shaken by the health crisis and a costly cyberattack, was placed in receivership in September 2022, two years after its takeover by businessman Michel Ohayon. The sudden closure of more than 500 stores left more than 2,000 employees out of work, sparking outrage in the fashion and political worlds. The brand had become the symbol of the rout of the clothing sector. In December 2022, Celio bought the Camaïeu brand at auction for €1.8 million, without taking over the company’s staff or premises.

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“It’s annoying, frustrating, people say that Camaïeu is starting again, but that’s not it, Camaïeu no longer exists, Camaïeu has been disbanded, we’ve all been fired!”recalled Sandra Sarrouy, a former CFDT union member who worked for Camaïeu for 31 years, contacted by telephone by AFP. But the Celio boss defends himself: “It’s development, it’s recruitment, it’s a French company, it’s the whole ecosystem around us that we make work in France.” “We are not responsible for the past, we are responsible for the future”he stressed. It remains to be seen whether Camaïeu’s old customers will return to their habits in these 12 new stores.