Court sanctions closure of Christian Lacroix’s iconic clothing line

A French court approved plans to close Christian Lacroix's haut couture and ready-to-wear clothing lines after potential buyers backed out. Lacroix will maintain just a skeleton staff of 11 to run the perfume and accessories lines.

AFP - A French court on Tuesday approved a drastic plan for the struggling fashion house Christian Lacroix to cut nearly all its staff and shut down its main clothes designing activities.
  
The Paris bankruptcy court approved the plan, which will end production of the classic label's haute couture and ready-to-wear lines after potential buyers passed up a deadline to take over the company.
  
The plan will see 100 staff cut with just 11 remaining to manage the company's licences for accessories and perfumes.
  
"The court rejected all the plans that were proposed by the different buyers and retained the plan to continue the company that was proposed by the current shareholders," the company's lawyer Simon Tahar said.
  
It "rejected the idea of a liquidation that would have closed the company for good."
  
The fashion house was founded in 1987 with the backing of the world's leading luxury giant LVMH Moet Hennessey Louis Vuitton, which sold it in 2005 to the US duty-free giant Falic.
  
It ran up losses of 10 million euros (about 15 million dollars) in 2008 for sales of 30 million euros, hit by the sharp downturn of the luxury market.
 

Date created : 2009-12-01