it's obvious that neither Procter & Gamble nor Gibo hold any long-term interests in the Rochas brand name or that they would have any intentions on properly relaunching the house in the manner as, for example, Shaw-Lan Wang (the Taiwanse, private owner) did when she bought into Lanvin... another Paris couture house that had become greatly insignificant over decades, without distinction or recognizable heritage.
The short-term interest becomes obvious when one considers that Procter & Gamble (who own the collection rights for the Rochas brand name) sell production licensing rights to a second party, while on the other hand shuttering down own operations in the fashion industry, as they did when they bought Wella and with that, the House of Rochas. Procter & Gamble still own the Rochas parfum licenses which are turning profits on some markets - With the sales of the fashion rights, they can only profit from added (free) publicity.
Fashionwise, with those historical Paris couture houses, you cannot bring them back to the present and completely neglect the culture they have come from - if they shall have a right in today's world, they must stand for superior craft and refinement, a notion of the luxury that was for once only reserved to the world of made-to-order (houses like Balenciaga or obviously Chanel offer that sort of demi-couture product). Gibo stands for a different sort of product in the mid-tier designer segment, people like Hussein Chalayan or Viktor & Rolf (both of which are actually not with Gibo any longer these days). They can do 'american sportswear' as Zanini did at Halston but certainly not something along the lines of certain Paris houses.
Rochas has had this one single believable chance (in this decade at least) with Olivier Theyskens, whose work was maybe not widely commercial as in quantities and wide distribution, but in identity building, recognizability and authenticy - important factors if one's intention is to properly re-build a house as Nicolas Guesquiere was permitted over a way longer time frame with Balenciaga. And yes, with first hand information at hand - Rochas was steadily growing business and not stagnating.
