Monday 12 June 2017

Crisis deepens at Lanvin with cost cutting and store closures

Lanvin has been in turmoil since the shock sacking in 2015 of star designer Alber Elbaz after a boardroom dispute. Elbaz was widely credited with infusing new life into the brand and being its driving force.

Designer Bouchra Jarrar, appointed in March 2016, has brought a more strict, tailored style that is very different from Elbaz’s often ultra-feminine silhouettes, and the new approach has so far failed to lift sales, the sources said.”The first collection went very badly, the second did not do better,” one said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the company has not published figures.

Another source with access to the company’s results said sales fell 23 percent last year to 162 million euros ($182 million). At their peak in 2012, they were 235 million euros.

Sales slumped a further 32 percent in the first two months of 2017, the source added, in contrast to strong performances at luxury rivals such as LVMH’s Louis Vuitton and Kering’s Gucci.

As a result, Lanvin fell into net loss of 18.3 million euros last year, its first in nearly a decade, from a profit of 6.3 million in 2015. The loss is seen widening to 27 million euros in 2017, the source said.

The company, which currently has nearly 300 staff in France, has appointed advisory firm Long Term Partners to conduct an audit and has been cutting costs as a result, closing several non-profitable stores, the sources said.

The programme will reduce advertising spending and store investments, and a plan to lay off nine people is under way too, with more cuts in the pipeline for 2017, they added.

But some employees are leaving and the company faces a challenge to retain talent, the sources said. Management wants to create a leather goods line for fashion outlets, but some industry specialists said using what are often cheaper, discount stores could damage Lanvin’s luxury image.

Controlling shareholder, 75-year-old Chinese media magnate Shaw-Lan Wang who is based in Taiwan, has been reluctant to invest in the brand for many years. She would not let her associate Swiss investor Ralph Bartel, who owns 25 percent of Lanvin, inject more cash into the business to support the brand as it would dilute her stake, sources have said. “He disagrees with the options chosen by the management and wants an urgent change in strategy,” one source said of Bartel.

Lanvin SS 2017

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