Y/Project Is Officially Closing Down

[THD96]

After 14 years, the Paris-based brand is ceasing operations since it has failed to find a buyer.​

Wwd/Penske Media/Getty Images
Fashion 1 Hr ago

Paris-based fashion house Y/Project is officially ceasing its operations. In a statement to WWD the company announced, “After 14 fruitful years, Y/Project has made the challenging decision to stop operations.” The news comes after the brand has failed to find a buyer since listing for sale last year. The brand was looking for a potential buyer following Glenn Martens departure as Y/Project’s creative director and the death of co-founder Gilles Elalouf.

Y/Project was founded by Gilles Elalouf and the late Yohan Serfaty. Following Gilles Elalouf’s death, the brand was placed into receivership by a Parisian commercial court. A Hong Kong-based asset management firm AA Investments was shown to be a potential suitor after offering a €45,000 EUR bid. The company had 24 employees and in 2023, it posted just under €11 million EUR in revenues.


Martens was Y/Project’s creative director since 2013 until his departure in September 2024. Under Martens’ creative leadership, the brand won critical acclaim, awarded with the ANDAM Grand Prize in 2017 and even even became one of the final brands for the 2016 LVMH Prize for Young Designers. Martens has been involved with Y/Project since it launched in 2010, working as Serfaty’s first assistant. After Serfaty’s untimely death in 2013, he took over as the creative director. Under Martens, the Belgian designer re-envisioned the brand that became known for its trompe l’oeil styling, exaggerated silhouettes including the thigh-high scrunched boots, collaborations and more. The company said in another statement expressing gratitude to all their partners and supporters, “Y/Project and the team thank all partners and supporters for their unwavering dedication to the brand throughout the years. Special thanks to Glenn Martens, Pascal Conte-Jodra, and the late Gilles Elalouf for giving their team the space to create and grow.”

Several of the brand’s archive looks will be donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, Antwerp’s MoMu fashion museum, Palais Galliera, the fashion museum of Paris and the French capital’s Musée des Arts Décoratifs in honor of co-founder Gilles Elalouf. Y/Project is the latest brand to fall victim to the current slowdown in the luxury climate.

Source: hypebeast.com

 

[youthinasia]

At least they’re self aware. How Off-White is still operating, I do not know. They should take a hint.

 

[tourbillions]

At least they’re self aware. How Off-White is still operating, I do not know. They should take a hint.

its not comparable.. i dont think y/project ever peaked the same as off-white's peak. and until now every now and then id see people wearing off-white from head to toe.

 

[ecnerretneerg]

Y/Project under Glenn was terrific imo. I feel like a lot of pieces are going to be worth a lot in the future.

 

[Lola701]

At least they’re self aware. How Off-White is still operating, I do not know. They should take a hint.

Off white was a much more complicated structure. They were part of a small group that was the owner of Marcelo Burlington and other brands. The brand and the group generated a lot of money, LVMH bought 60% and then they didn’t survived VA’s death.

Y project was much much much more small than Off White. That’s why the brand is somehow still seen as an asset and why LVMH managed to sell it.

YProject without the creative heart is worthless.

 

[Monsieur Cristobal]

Excuse my absolute ignorance in business matters, but a small structure of 24 employées, generating yearly "only" 11 million euros... is forced to close down?

 

[brandon J pierre]

Excuse my absolute ignorance in business matters, but a small structure of 24 employées, generating yearly "only" 11 million euros... is forced to close down?

Crazy right. Have to be something else going on

 

[Monsieur Cristobal]

If this is the world we are living in, independent fashion is doomed.
It shocks me that, in order to survive as a small brand, your revenue must surpass... how many millions more than eleven?

No surprise then that everybody is trying to seat on a warm chair at a conglomerate house.

 

[MulletProof]

At least they’re self aware. How Off-White is still operating, I do not know. They should take a hint.

Yeah, these labels don’t know how to exit in a dignified way anymore, they reaally need to get to the point of filing for bankruptcy and lawsuits. ‘bUt alL tHe eMpLoyEeS!’ yeah the employees are, I assume, qualified enough to find a new job like everybody else..?

What’s even more representative of the toxic, exploitative and money-starved state of the industry is that this was founded in 2010 and the founder died a year later and for whatever reason they still felt compelled to keep going and play the conglomerates’ game of finding someone to come up with a direction and revisit over and over the label’s one-year (!!) legacy. Now this person’s creatively drained, basically on autopilot and wired to recycling the same tricks because.. been on this sweatshop format and payroll for too long, and this label’s finally succumbed to the overtime it’s tried to stretch for no reason, since their unfortunate start.

Unless chased ironically by the teenagers of 2044, I very much doubt the trendy, landfill shredded thongs this churned out seasonally will accumulate any value in years to come…

 

[giuseppeWedge]

I've known this was coming since Glenn announced his depart from the brand and pretty much everything they had in stock started going on insane sales, y/project under his direction has always been one of my favorites, you could always tell when a piece was by him without the need for a notable pattern or logo. So sad.

 

[StylishCynic]

Excuse my absolute ignorance in business matters, but a small structure of 24 employées, generating yearly "only" 11 million euros... is forced to close down?

Business 101: revenue ≠ profit

 

[woemwoem]

11M euros in revenues is actually not very much. Unless you're running a bodega as a business or something, it's kind of minuscule. And we have no idea what their costs were. My guess is they were spending much more in materials, employee costs, advertising, rent, benefits, etc than they were bringing in and the owners determined they would never register any profits for at least a few years if ever.

 

[Monsieur Cristobal]

I guess in the end is what you say, if it is not your baby and it doesn't bring you benefit, you close it down .

To compare it with another small structure, Phoebe Philo has more than 120 employées and allegedly LVMH backed her with 30M £ (34M €).

 

[brandon J pierre]

I guess in the end is what you say, if it is not your baby and it doesn't bring you benefit, you close it down .

To compare it with another small structure, Phoebe Philo has more than 120 employées and allegedly LVMH backed her with 30M £ (34M €).

Why the hell does she need 120 employees. Those better be seamstress

 

[vetements]

I've known this was coming since Glenn announced his depart from the brand and pretty much everything they had in stock started going on insane sales, y/project under his direction has always been one of my favorites, you could always tell when a piece was by him without the need for a notable pattern or logo. So sad.

his clothes were nice and I have bought like 3-4 jackets in total. All nice, including a capsule collection with Canada Goose and that was the only Canada Goose I was willing to buy, and it served me really well even today, despite being from 4 years ago.

The problem is, after a while, Y/Project didnt evolve but kinda use the same few ideas: asymetrical, color blocks etc and it became less fun over the years and I stopped watching them.
Bit sad, since I think the designer has good potential or maybe he gets better money at Diesel, we will never know.