Recently acquired Naf Naf files for receivership again

No respite for Naf Naf, the French womenswear chain famous in the 1990s for the grand méchant (oh so impertinent) look. Having recently changed ownership, Naf Naf has again gone into receivership, for the third time in its history, a development putting the jobs of 600 employees in France at risk. A critical juncture for the brand, as was reported exclusively by FashionNetwork.com on May 21.

On Friday, owing to persistent “cash flow difficulties,” Naf Naf was placed in receivership after a ruling by the commercial court of Bobigny, France, AFP has learnt.

“While the ruling for the time being prevents the company from going immediately into liquidation, it means the start of a time of great uncertainty,” the CFDT trade union said in a statement sent to AFP.

This is the third time that Naf Naf, which was acquired by Turkish producer Migiboy Tekstil last June, has gone into receivership. According to the court ruling, the new owner has said it wants to “continue to keep [Naf Naf] alive, and to draw up a recovery plan.”

The company currently employs 588 workers in France – and 650 in the last six months, according to the court.

Naf Naf had filed for suspension of payments, and “is facing liquidity difficulties it is unable to overcome,” and “is unable to meet outstanding liabilities with its available assets.”

The company’s liabilities currently amount to €44 million, and in 2024 the chain generated a revenue of €47 million.

However, the court indicated that “based on [Naf Naf’s] statements and the business forecast that has been presented, as well as the amount of liquidity available, the possibility of a turnaround does exist.”

Naf Naf will therefore undergo a six-month monitoring  period, and the situation will be reviewed at a hearing scheduled for July 23.

“Disastrous social impact”

In June 2024, Migiboy Tekstil pledged to save 90% of the jobs at Naf Naf, and to continue to operate about 100 of the chain’s directly owned stores. At the time, the Turkish company had paid over €1.5 million to acquire Naf Naf, saving 521 jobs out of 586 and approximately 100 stores in France, while also buying the chain’s subsidiaries in Spain, Italy and Belgium.

“The management and the owner will have to prove that Naf Naf can continue to operate at least temporarily, which means being able to re-stock the stores (…) and deploying a new logistics organisation, all of this with very limited financial leeway,” said CFDT.

The stores “will be stocked up, because the inventory runs to 800,000 items, and [Naf Naf stores] are selling 140,000 items per month,” the management argued in court.

Yet, even if this turnaround plan were to succeed, “a drastic reorganisation, with store closures and further staff cuts at headquarters, is very likely,” said CFDT.

A catastrophic scenario was also mentioned: “Conversely, if these conditions will not be met, the company will be liquidated and the stores, inventory and brand name will be sold to the highest bidder, with a disastrous social impact.”

Naf Naf has suffered serial setbacks in the last few years, this being the third time it has filed for receivership since 2020.

The brand was launched in 1973 by the brothers Gérard and Patrick Pariente, its name being a tribute to “the strongest and smartest of the three little pigs,” and began to made the headlines in 1983. The Naf Naf cotton jumpsuit in assorted colours sold more than three million units in the 1980s, according to the brand’s website.

A commercial success that gained further momentum in the 1990s, when Naf Naf released eye-catching advertising campaigns promoting the grand méchant look.

In May 2020, in the midst of the Covid pandemic, the company first went into receivership.

It was then bought by Franco-Turkish group SY International, which employs more than 1,000 people worldwide, and had previously acquired French fashion retailer Sinéquanone in 2019.

Heavily indebted, notably owing to rents that went unpaid during the pandemic, Naf Naf was again placed in judicial receivership in September 2023, before being bought by Migiboy Tekstil.