The French ready-to-wear group Beaumanoir announced on Wednesday June 5 that it had acquired the activities and operation of the Boardriders brands – Quiksilver, Billabong, Roxy, DC Shoes, Element, RVCA – in Western Europe, specifying Agence France-Presse (AFP) that a social plan provides for the elimination of around two hundred positions in France. The brands concerned have been the property of the American company Authentic Brands Group since 2023. They will remain so, with Beaumanoir taking care of managing and distributing them from now on in Western Europe.
With this operation, Beaumanoir diversifies its portfolio “with the integration of seven recognized brands from the “outdoor” sector” And “is increasing its presence on French territory but also at the European level”he congratulated himself in a press release.
“Of the seven hundred and some people working at the headquarters [européen] from Saint-Jean-de-Luz [Pyrénées-Atlantiques]we are trying to save five hundred, having only a third of the activity that was done there., revealed Roland Beaumanoir, founder of the group, in an interview with AFP. Headquarters “will not be repatriated to Saint-Malo”in Brittany, where Beaumanoir is based.
Jobs in stores preserved
“This has already been widely discussed with the social and economic committees of Saint-Jean-de-Luz, we are going to bear the responsibility of a social plan which is financed by the Americans”he clarified, referring to “a somewhat painful event, well known to the regional authorities, the town hall, the prefect”. As for the Boardriders purchasing office based in Hong Kong, it “will be reduced but kept”Roland Beaumanoir told AFP.
Asked about the fate of the thousand employees in stores, Beaumanoir’s communication specified that the job protection plan “conducted by Boardriders only concerns the perimeter of the Saint-Jean-de-Luz headquarters. All store jobs are saved ».
Beaumanoir, whose turnover amounted to 2 billion euros in 2022, employs more than 15,000 people worldwide and manages more than 2,000 points of sale, including Cache Cache, Bréal, Bonobo, Morgan and Caroll.
