Sessùn is changing hands. The French women’s ready-to-wear brand now has the Italian investment fund Quadrivio Group as its majority shareholder. Experienced Capital (ECP), its 42.4% shareholder since 2017, alongside Emma François-Grasset, its founder, announced on Tuesday, September 10, that it had sold its stake to this Italian fund specializing in SMEs in the fashion and lifestyle sector. The amount of the transaction has not been disclosed.
According to Emmanuel Pradère, one of the founders of ECP, alongside Frédéric Biousse and Elie Kouby, the operation comes after seven years of strong expansion. The turnover of the brand, founded by Mme François-Grasset, has tripled thanks to the funds provided by ECP, to reach 70 million euros this year. In addition, the brand has opened eighty points of sale, thirty of which are outside France. Sales abroad reach 40% of its activity, he adds. The founder, who holds 30% of the capital, remains general director and artistic director, specifies a press release from the company. The objective is now to reach 130 million euros in turnover by 2028.
Mode premium
Sessùn is the second fashion brand that ECP is divesting. In September 2023, the French investment fund, founded by three former executives of the Sandro, Maje, Claudie Pierlot (SMCP) group in 2016, sold its stake in Sœur to another Italian investment fund, Style Capital. ECP remains a shareholder in three other French premium fashion brands – Le Slip français, a brand made exclusively in France, Figaret shirts, and Balibaris, a men’s fashion brand. It is also a shareholder in the cosmetics brand Oh My Cream, the Monday Sports Club sports studios and The French Bastards bakeries. An exit from the capital of SMEs Le Slip français and Balibaris “is not a current topic”says Mr. Pradère, although the economic situation is hurting the clothing trade. “In times of crisis, the premium segment is the one that is doing best, by recruiting customers from higher socio-professional categories”the leader believes.
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