The children’s clothing brands Du Pareil Au Même and Sergent Major were respectively placed in receivership and in safeguard proceedings on Wednesday, AFP learned from the group Générale pour l’Enfant (GPE), which owns these two brands as well as Natalys. , which is not the subject of any proceedings. The group, which employs 2,500 people, said it had been “impacted” by “social crises, the Covid-19 pandemic, the energy crisis and inflation” in a press release.
GPE suffered a decline of 100 million euros in its turnover over the Covid period “due to the closure of stores during the pandemic”, a source familiar with the matter told AFP, according to which the figure turnover reached 275 million euros in 2022. “The explosion of costs” of electricity, rents and raw materials are also at fault, according to the press release. “The restructuring plan provides for the closure or sale of around fifty Sergent Major stores and around a hundred at Du Pareil Au Même”, according to the same source.
Holding Générale pour l’Enfant (GPE) is not affected by any procedure or Natalys “to date”, the brand with 10 million euros in turnover being “much smaller” than the other two and does not not knowing “such heavy issues”, she added. The group has announced that it is restructuring and developing its digital strategy, with the aim of achieving 25% of its sales online, “by 2027”. He has, to do this, invested 5 million euros, he quantified. It also envisages an “international extension to new markets (Middle East) and the development of the network of affiliates in France and in Europe (Greece)”.
The GPE group was founded by Paul Zemmour in 1987, the year the first Sergent Major store opened. It then acquired Natalys in 2006 and Du Pareil Au Même in 2016. It has 850 stores in France, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany, Luxembourg, Slovakia and Switzerland.
