Its closure in 2022 left more than 2,000 employees without jobs. The Camaïeu brand, symbol of the decline of ready-to-wear, will rise from its ashes on August 29. Online sales as well as 12 stores will reopen in France, Celio, buyer of the brand, announced this Friday, June 21, 2024.
“We only bought the Camaïeu name, not the stores, without the teams, with the idea of launching a women’s line at Celio,” Sébastien Bismuth, the president of Celio, which acquired Camaïeu at auction in December 2022, told the press.
The objective is “to create large-scale stores, between 700 and 1,000 square meters”, in particular by expanding the existing Celio stores which, in addition to the usual men’s offering, will offer women’s collections under the be camaïeu brand, explained Sébastien Bismuth.
Two of the twelve boutiques located throughout France (Lille, Bayonne, Valence, etc.) and in Belgium (Brussels) will be solely dedicated to be camaïeu, whose collections are intended to be ” Daily “. “Known to all women in France”, Shades “was a leader” in 2020, with 8% market share, “ahead of Zara, H&M and Kiabi”, recalled President of Celio.
Read also: “We are in mourning”: rush to the Camaïeu stores, which have finally lowered the curtain
Expand the range
“Celio needed to expand its range […] All international brands today make men’s and women’s clothing. he justified, citing Zara, H&M, Uniqlo, Gap. “We already have 25% of women who come to Celio to buy products for their husband, friend, brother or family […] we will be able to offer them a women’s line,” rejoiced Sébastien Bismuth who defines Camaïeu as “the other ego of Celius”, both in terms of style and price. The announced objective is to offer around fifty stores in this format in the “three, four years to come”.
In December 2022, Celio bought the Camaïeu brand for 1.8 million euros during an auction.
Formerly the flagship of women’s ready-to-wear in France, Camaïeu was placed in compulsory liquidation in September 2022, two years after its takeover by a subsidiary of Financière Immobilier Bordeaux (FIB) of businessman Michel Ohayon.
The brand founded in 1984 in Roubaix (North) was disrupted by the health crisis and a costly cyberattack. This liquidation led to the layoffs of more than 2,000 people, the closure of more than 500 stores and caused a stir in the world of fashion and politics.
Around fifty job creations
“There are a few I know who have found work,” testified Laurent Gunst, former CSE elected official, to theAFP. “Others are in training or retraining” car “people have not necessarily found it in their sector”, the manager further explained.
According to a former CFDT employee from Camaïeu in Dunkirk, “About half of former employees have not found work to date.” “Some of them are still in the lurch, these were people who did not yet have all their quarters for retirement,” denounced the one who also did not find work.
In the immediate future, around fifty positions will be created in the stores and 25 at the headquarters, said the boss of Celio. “We will study all the CVs of Camaïeu alumni”, a promis Sébastien Bismuth.
Founded in 1978, the men’s ready-to-wear brand Celio currently has 320 stores in France and is also present internationally in Spain, Belgium and North Africa. The president of Celio did not wish to communicate either on the investments necessary for the operation, or on the turnover but maintained that the company “was growing for three years, profitable” et “gained market share”.
