Constance de Polignac is the new general manager of Happywool.com, northern distributor of the Phildar and Pingouin knitting yarn brands. This appointment follows the decision of Eric Vandendriessche, until then CEO, to end his mission, “in accordance with what had been planned with the shareholders upon the takeover of the Phildar company” indicates a press release.
A new phase of development
A graduate of emLyon Business School, Constance de Polignac previously held the position of marketing and transformation director for B&B hotels. An experienced professional in the fields of web and physical distribution, she must lead a new phase of development, knowing that: “the transformation of the company which had been imagined at the takeover in October 2020 is now complete”, assures the same press release.
For the record, Phildar SAS was placed in receivership in July 2020, leaving the fold of the AFM (Mulliez Family Association), to be taken over in September 2020 by its two directors at the time, Eric Vandendriessche, general manager and Pierre-Jean Cayuela, president. They were supported in this takeover by a pool of investors, including two institutional ones (M for Mutuelle and the regional fund Finorpa), and around twenty individual shareholders, including grandsons of the founder of Phildar.
-Profitability to regain
In 2020, during this takeover, Phildar SAS then became PP Yarns, before being renamed Happywool.com again, in 2023, when it became a mission-driven company. The objective of the takeover was to return to profitable growth, after five years of deficit, by abandoning the ready-to-wear activity and accelerating on the web. At the time, Éric Vandendriessche’s ambition was to reach 50 million euros in turnover in 2025.
Present in the B2C and B2B segments, in France and internationally, Happywool.com employs around a hundred employees and now generates more than 65% of its turnover digitally. The distributor has a network of more than 1,000 resellers and points of sale. In 2023, the turnover amounted to 20.7 million euros, with a loss of 3.27 million euros. The company was, however, profitable in 2022, with a turnover of 31.5 million euros, for a profit of 141,000 euros.