Jean Paul Gaultier to Stop RTW
By Miles Socha
September 15, 2014
Jean Paul Gaultier
Photo By Dominique Maître
PARIS — Jean Paul Gaultier is to stop his women’s and men’s ready-to-wear collections and accessories, WWD has learned.
The designer, 62, is to devote himself to couture, the brand’s powerhouse perfume business and other projects.
His final women’s rtw collection is to be shown at the Grand Rex on Sept. 27 during Paris Fashion Week for the spring-summer 2015 season.
It is understood the shutdown is to affect several dozen employees.
The development means the loss of a license for Italian manufacturer Gibò Co. SpA, which had taken over Gaultier’s women’s rtw in 2013, after having been his original partner in the Eighties.
News of the downsizing comes three years after Puig, the Spanish fragrance and fashion group, acquired a majority stake in the Gaultier house, and points to challenging times for mid-size players in an era of megabrands with global store networks.
It also suggests that despite the designer’s enduring popularity and cult following — underscored by attendance records for his roving retrospective exhibition — the fashion house has struggled to translate his madcap creativity into profits.
In a letter addressed to WWD, Gaultier explained that the decision was made in concert with Puig executives and after an “in-depth assessment” on the future of the house.
“We looked at various possibilities considering the present state of the company and we have reached the same conclusion,” he wrote. “For some time, I have found true fulfillment in working on the haute couture and it allows me to express my creativity and my taste for research and experimentation. At the same time the world of ready-to-wear has evolved considerably. Commercial constraints, as well as the frenetic pace of collections don't leave any freedom, nor the necessary time to find fresh ideas and to innovate.
“After more than 38 years spent producing men’s and women’s ready-to-wear collections, it seems to us that the time has come to stop some of our activities and to concentrate principally on the development of the haute couture, of perfumes and to certain collaborations that I have not yet had time to explore,” he added. “This is a new beginning, I will be able to express again my creativity fully and without constraints,” he added.
In 2004, Gaultier let go 31 workers in a bid to save its money-losing couture business and lift the house out of the red following heavy investments in a new 50,000-square-foot building on the Rue Saint Martin with a swanky Philippe Starck decor.
It is understood Gaultier’s high-fashion business operates near breakeven today.
Market sources estimate the company generates consolidated revenues of about 30 million euros, or $38.9 million at current exchange rates, with royalties from licensed products — rtw, fragrances, watches, eyewear and beachwear — generating about half that sum. Besides couture, leather goods and accessories are also produced in house.
Fragrances — headlined by the women’s Classique scent and Le Mâle for men — remain the biggest and most successful part of the business, and were a key attraction for Puig.
Come mid-2016, the Spanish company will get its hands on Gaultier’s lucrative fragrance license, currently held by Beauté Prestige International, a subsidiary of Japan’s Shiseido. Sources estimate that fragrances represent more than 80 percent of the Gaultier business, if one considers the wholesale value of all products.
One of France’s most iconic designers, Gaultier started his company in 1976, and catapulted the French capital’s reputation for fashion in the Eighties alongside fellow fashion mavericks Claude Montana and Thierry Mugler.
Gaultier establishing his beauty business in 1991, joined the couture calendar in 1997 and launched an accessories division in 2000.
Among recent collaborations, last week the designer flew to Gothenburg, Sweden, to stage a fashion show for the one-off line he designed for Scandinavian fashion chain Lindex, celebrating its 60th anniversary.
Gaultier also continues to create stage costumes for musicians including the likes of Kylie Minogue, soon embarking a new tour, as well as Mylène Farmer and Conchita Wurst, an Austrian drag performer who won the last Eurovision Song Contest, and wore the bride’s outfit at Gaultier’s most recent couture show.
