Seven hundred jobs, a landmark store across the street from Paris City Hall, and a chairman who says the money he's owed is sitting with his landlord. The landlord says it owes nothing. And that's before anyone brings up Shein. Some Tuesdays are louder than others. Welcome to Fashion Business Daily. It's Wednesday, October 28, and we have three stories. BHV Marais asks a French court to protect it while it restructures. Gilmar, the Italian company that makes Iceberg and No. 21 under license, files to restructure its debts. And Roots completes its sale to Marquee Brands as its chief executive steps down. Follow the show and the next briefing lands in your feed on its own.
Matthieu Guinebault, writing for FashionNetwork with AFP:
Its chairman, Karl-Stéphane Cottendin, accuses the landlord of failing to pay the compensation owed in return for the surrender of half the premises.
The filing came on Tuesday, October 27. BHV Marais, the department store on the Rue de Rivoli that was founded in 1856, asked to be placed in court-supervised administration. It stays open, and management says it employs 700 people. The fight is with Brookfield, the Canadian asset manager that owns the building. BHV says its relaunch depended on compensation agreed for handing more than half the store back to the landlord in the spring, and that the money never arrived. Brookfield rejects that and says it has no outstanding sums due to BHV. So it's the chairman's word against the landlord's. And the store calls the procedure the framework for the relaunch, not its failure. I've yet to hear a company call its own filing a failure. Then let's be careful about who claims what. FashionNetwork reports that France's labour inspectorate suspects the business is insolvent, and management disputes that. Cottendin's press release says what the store lacks is the cash it is owed. The court will sort out both claims. The history matters here. The previous owner, Frédéric Merlin's SGM, already had brands complaining about late payments. Then in 2025 it announced that BHV would host Shein's first permanent physical store. AFP says that set off a wave of brand departures. Put Shein inside a Paris department store and of course the French labels leave. In June, SGM sold the business at a loss to a group of its own executives, and they ended the Shein partnership. Cottendin took charge then, and the ground floor reopened on September 10. Management says the riots in central Paris over recent Saturdays ended with that ground floor being looted, which hit a cash position that was already tight. If I'm a brand, I only care about one thing. Do I get paid? That's what the store is promising suppliers. It says the procedure freezes old liabilities and protects brands and suppliers who are coming back, so they're paid on time and get the priority the law gives them. One caveat on the next step. Sortiraparis reports a hearing on Friday, October 30, before the Paris Economic Activities Court. FashionNetwork, citing AFP, says the application went to the commercial court in Lyon. We'll report the ruling once one of them makes it. Yesterday it was a lender paying for David Jones's Christmas stock. Today it's a store saying its landlord is sitting on the money. Either way, no cash means nothing new on the shelves.
From WWD, reporting from Milan:
The company plans to complete and ship orders already acquired for the fall 2026 season and halt the development of new licensed collections for 2027.
The company is Gilmar Divisione Industria, the licensee for No. 21, Paolo Pecora and Iceberg. WWD found the filing on Gilmar's corporate website on Tuesday. It has entered an Italian procedure called composizione negoziata della crisi, a voluntary restructuring negotiated outside the courts, and it's using the protection the Rimini court can add, which blocks enforcement and bankruptcy claims while it lasts. An independent expert, Mauro Morelli, handles talks with creditors. So nothing new from this licensee for 2027. Neither label even showed in Milan in September, and Iceberg skipped February too. James Long designs Iceberg. You've got a real designer on the payroll and no runway to show his work. The figures come from the filing. Total debt was 36.63 million euros as of August 31, spread across more than 800 creditors. EBITDA was 3.5 million euros in 2019, and production value fell 44 percent in 2020. Gilmar blames the pandemic, Ukraine, the wholesale crisis and energy costs, and it lost 25 million euros a year in revenue when its M Missoni and Siviglia licenses ended. That last line is the one I'd underline. Two licenses end, 25 million a year disappears, and the factory overheads don't go anywhere. A licensee depends entirely on the brands it holds. The plan has three parts. It winds down the licensing business. It looks for an industrial partner to take the third-party manufacturing arm, which would keep about 126 jobs, or up to 185 if the buyer takes logistics as well. And it sells the industrial complex at San Giovanni in Marignano, outside Rimini, which Gilmar calls its main asset and says carries no mortgage. Gilmar says it intends to pay creditors in full. Then there's No. 21. Alessandro Dell'Acqua founded it in 2010. Gilmar took the license from spring 2013 and bought a 30 percent stake two years later, and Dell'Acqua kept the other 70. And here the sourcing matters. WWD cites industry sources in Milan who say StyleCapital, the private equity fund behind MSGM, Forte_Forte and Autry, is actively looking at investing in No. 21. That's sourced reporting, not a deal. StyleCapital didn't respond to WWD, and Gilmar, No. 21 and Iceberg had no comment. The Rimini court hears whether to confirm the protections, and for how long, on Tuesday, November 24. I hope Dell'Acqua ends up with a partner that actually funds the label. The clothes were never the problem.
Roots, in its announcement on Business Wire from Toronto:
Following the completion of the transaction, Meghan Roach has stepped down as President and Chief Executive Officer.
Roots put this out on Monday, October 26. Marquee Brands, acting through an operating partner called JM&A Design & Development, bought every share at 4.10 Canadian dollars in cash. That's about 39.2 million shares and roughly 160.7 million Canadian dollars in total. The shares come off the Toronto Stock Exchange shortly, and Roots will apply to stop being a reporting issuer in Canada. About 160 million for a brand half of Canada has a sweatshirt from. Seems like a bargain. The business had been getting smaller. FashionNetwork says that last month Roots reported second-quarter sales down 2.4 percent to 49.5 million dollars, with declines in both direct-to-consumer and wholesale. And the CEO leaves the moment the deal closes. She stays on as an adviser for the handover. Roach came in as interim chief financial officer in 2019 and became CEO in 2020. Former chair Erol Uzumeri credits her with financial discipline. FashionNetwork's report doesn't name who runs Roots now. Look at how the deal is set up. The buyer is Marquee Brands, with a separate operating partner doing the day-to-day work. Yesterday we went through WHP and G-III splitting up Marc Jacobs. Roots' own company description already mentions licensees that sell its products to major retailers. And Gilmar shows the risk on the other side of a license. Roots itself runs more than 100 locations in Canada, two US stores and a Tmall storefront in China. What people actually buy is the leather goods and the cabin look. If the new owners stretch the name across cheap licensed product, that's how a heritage brand loses its value. That's a risk, and the owners haven't announced anything like it. For now there's a completed deal, a delisting on the way, and no new CEO named yet.
A question for anyone who sells through department stores or works on the licensing side. If a retailer owes you money, or you're rethinking a license, tell us how you're handling it. Write to fashionbusinessdaily at lantern podcasts dot com.
My call: BHV keeps its doors open through Christmas, whatever the court says. We'll find out soon. This has been Fashion Business Daily, from Lantern Podcasts. Back with you tomorrow, Thursday.