Duror Fashion Group, the holding company for the fashion brands Terre Bleue, Gigue and Zilton, and the other companies in the group have decided to close their accounts. The company reported this itself in a press release on Saturday. More than 150 people will lose their jobs due to the bankruptcy. 29 stores will remain closed for the time being.
The group is best known for the fashion brands it has under its wings: Terre Bleue, one of the better-known high street brands, the preppy brand Gigue – once founded by Jo Wyckmans – and the men’s label Zilton.
The family business, which has existed since 1938 and has been led by Peter Perquy for the past five years, could no longer get its debt burden under control. According to the press release, from a turnover of 35 million euros before corona, 30 million euros remained in 2022-2023. The group assumes that this decline would have continued in the 2023-24 financial year.
War in Ukraine
The main causes at Duror are the corona crisis, the war in Ukraine, the increase in energy and raw material prices, inflation and the unpredictable weather conditions of recent times. But just like with other recent bankruptcies in the fashion sector, such as Esprit and Scotch & Soda, the ultra-competitive market also plays a role: competition from fast fashion, foreign webshops and large-scale second-hand sales, such as Vinted.
Because the group’s brands are also located in multi-brand boutiques, they also feel the increasing pressure on those smaller points of sale: “The decimation among independent fashion retailers, which account for approximately 50% of Duror Fashion Group’s turnover, made everything even more difficult,” says still the press release.
And it is mainly the brands in the slightly more expensive – often not very pronounced – middle segment that are sensitive to all these market factors. Consumers seem to be dropping out of this than in the luxury segment and fast fashion. This was also clear at Esprit and Scotch & Soda
The company emphasizes that several measures have been taken in recent years to reduce costs (despite the upward pressure of inflation) and increase turnover: “Some of the brands in the portfolio have succeeded better than Others. For example, Gigue has achieved good growth in recent seasons. That proved more difficult for the other brands in the group, a phenomenon that the entire sector was confronted with.”
No agreement with financiers
Against this background, it proved impossible to reach a final agreement with the financiers on spreading the loans over a longer period. This week is an important moment in this, as the loans obtained during the corona crisis period expire on 30 June 2024.