In January, models were sent to the factory to present the next winter collection to the 110 employees. “ It made us so happy! explains a stitcher worker during her break. And then, we learned that we were suspending payments. My team leader was ashen-faced. This is the first time this has happened since the company was created in 1968.”
The mood is therefore gloomy around the Arche factory, a sheet metal building just outside Château-Renault (Indre-et-Loire). This luxury shoe manufacturer from the north of Touraine was placed on Thursday 1er February, in receivership. The procedure starts this week, with a freeze on receivables, payment deadlines and the payment of salaries by the Association for the Management of the Employee Claims Guarantee Scheme (AGS).
The company is indeed experiencing financial difficulties, a cash flow problem, which prevents it from meeting its most immediate deadlines. According to management, the company, whose pairs are sold between 200 and 999 euros, is experiencing a jaws effect. On the one hand, it notes a decline in activity linked to the French economy, the decline in the clothing trade but also due to the international environment (74% of Arche’s sales are made outside France, in 36 countries), through the decline of certain foreign markets. On the other hand, Arche must face rising costs of energy and raw materials.
“Continue to produce with more serenity”
Without communicating the figures, the president, Catherine Hélaine, whose company was founded by her parents, Pierre-Robert and Andrée, nevertheless wants to be reassuring: “We are experiencing a decline in the American market, but growth in Oceania. This legal recovery is a way to continue producing with more peace of mind. Our orders are increasing, which increases our need for raw materials. » Annual purchases – notably of European cowhides and natural rubber soles – represent 4 million euros, but the current production of shoes will not be paid for until October or even December 2024.
The Touraine site is Arche’s flagship. There is a factory in Croatia, but all pairs go back through Château-Renault. In the hall of the management building sits a “France Relance” sign, named after this vast 100 billion euro plan launched by the State in the fall of 2020 and intended, in particular, for the modernization of industry . Fashion magazines are stacked on an oval table. Two stylists hold a video conference in an immaculate showroom. Colorful ankle boots and ballerinas are displayed in windows everywhere, even in the adjoining canteen.
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