Since the conciliation procedure opened by the Commercial Court of Lille in April, we knew Damartex in difficulty. Listed on the secondary market, the company published its results in mid-July. These are not good. With revenue of 650.4 million euros for the 2022-2023 financial year, down 9.5% compared to the previous one (following a 2021-2022 financial year also down by 5, 9%), and a cash deficit of 75 million euros, the group to which Damart belongs had to negotiate with its banks a revolving credit of 120 million by 2025.
The State was also called to the rescue and granted a Resilience guaranteed loan of 35 million euros. Added to these new debts is an authorized overdraft of 21 million over twenty-four months. The Despature family group (55.25% of the capital) returned to the pot, with a loan of 8.5 million euros. It had become more than urgent to restructure the financial debt “and to secure new financing”, says Patrick Seghin, CEO of Damartex, who will present a new strategy on September 6.
The heirs of Jules, Joseph and Paul Despature, who founded Damart in Roubaix in 1953 after having developed a revolutionary fiber and launched the famous Thermolactyl (a heated underwear), are still the reference shareholder of the group which is is diversified in the “silver economy”. Through acquisition, Damartex has developed a division Healthcare : home support (Almadia) and home healthcare services (Santéol and MSanté). The whole represents only 5% of turnover.
Reinventing the brand’s aging image
The flagship of the fashion division (535.5 million euros in turnover) remains Damart, whose headquarters are still in the former northern textile city. Nothing is made there anymore, production having been relocated to Tunisia where the yarns, purchased in Taiwan, Japan or Europe, are knitted, dyed to order, cut and sewn. But it is still not far from the premises of the beginnings, installed rue Dammartin (hence the name Damart), that the new fibers and technical fabrics are designed to diversify the offer beyond the only Thermolactyl which has made it famous. and, for a long time, his good fortune.
The brand with the famous slogan “Cold, me? Never ! I wear Thermolactyl by Damart » will market in September Evolutyl, a T-shirt halfway between Thermolactyl for very cold weather and Climatyl, its summer counterpart, launched in 2019, which reduces the feeling of heat and the inconvenience caused by sweat. “We were looking for the Holy Grail between Thermolactyl and Climatyl”says Christophe Gaigneux, who went through La Redoute in his early days and took over as general manager of Damart in 2019. The promise of Evolutyl? “Better withstand sudden changes in temperature, hot snaps after cold snaps”, explains Guillaume Boussaroque, Director of Innovation. Engineers worked with the European Center for Innovative Textiles to integrate microparticles developed by NASA in the 1970s into textile fibers. The brand hopes to sell 10,000 of these T-shirts during the next winter season.
You have 48.84% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.