Ready-to-wear brand Paule Ka placed under receivership

Affordable luxury brand Paule Ka, owned by businessman Thierry Le Guenic, was placed into receivership at the end of April, according to a decision seen by AFP on Tuesday, confirming information from the fashion network.

On April 23, the Commercial Court of Paris placed the brand, which employs 37 employees, into receivership, the decision says.

The annual turnover of SAS Paule Ka Paris is more than 8 million euros, but the company’s liabilities reach more than 4 million euros, the court notes.

“Key player in the premium ready-to-wear market”

According to the decision, the company was declared insolvent, “in particular due to the sharp decline in consumption of ready-made clothing at the international level.” The company benefits from a six-month observation period, with a benchmark set for June 18th.

Created in 1988 in Paris by Serge Kaifinger, a “passionate esthete of the 1950s and 1960s” and “an icon of that era,” Paul Ka “positions itself as a preferred player in the premium ready-to-wear market,” according to the brand’s website.

It had already been put into administration in October 2020 and then sold in February 2021 to businessman Thierry Le Guenique.

The same fate befell several of Thierry Le Guenique’s companies.

Its current network “consists of two boutiques in the French capital, corners in department stores, stores in Lyon and Luxembourg, and an outlet in Strasbourg,” Fashion reports. Net.

Paule Ka is not the only company bought by Thierry Le Guenique to suffer a disastrous fate. In 2020, he acquired clothing brand Burton of London, which was in forced liquidation in February, as well as footwear company San Marina, which was liquidated in 2023 – a company from which he left in July 2021, those around him said.

Lingerie brand Maison Lejaby, which Thierry Le Guenique acquired in 2020, went into receivership in January. In 2020, he also took over the leadership of Habitat, which was liquidated in December 2023.