Fashion
Santiago Cucci on IKKS: ‘It’s time for us to refocus on our flagship brand’
Published
December 14, 2025
In October, this was not necessarily the frontrunner in the race to take over the IKKS Group. The French premium ready-to-wear specialist, owner of the eponymous brand as well as One Step and I.Code, attracted around a dozen bidders after being placed in receivership at the start of autumn, including the respective owners of The Kooples, Pimkie, Morgan and Caroll.
But in the home stretch, the duo of Michaël Benabou, co-founder of VeePee (then called Vente Privée) and head of the investment company Financière Saint James, and Santiago Cucci, a specialist in premium ready-to-wear and former head of the Levi’s and Dockers brands, who for a time supported the leadership of Dutch label G-Star, strengthened their bid. The entrepreneur, a sports enthusiast who knows the case well, having taken over as chairman of the HoldIKKS holding company last year, knows that competitions are decided right up to the last minute. Despite the loss of almost half the workforce, their offer, which safeguards 546 jobs and includes 119 directly operated stores, won the backing of the group’s works council (CSE) and was formally approved by the Paris Court for Economic Activities.
A few hours after the decision was made official, Cucci outlined his roadmap for IKKS to FashionNetwork.com.
FashionNetwork.com: What was your reaction to the announcement of the court’s decision?
Santiago Cucci: We’re delighted to be taking over this iconic brand. I think it’s a brand that touches the hearts of the French. We all have a history with IKKS, whether from our younger years or through our children, often tied to festive moments. This means there’s a whole generation entering adulthood already very familiar with the brand and feeling positively towards it. That’s the capital we’re taking on today. And this affinity extends well beyond end consumers: of the 118 affiliates we contacted, 116 said yes.
FNW: Because beyond the 119 directly operated stores, you had to convince partners to come on board…
SC: Whether with affiliates, suppliers we had to renegotiate with, or across the entire value chain through to consumers, I believe the whole ecosystem still holds the brand in very high regard. Our job now is to make the brand desirable, using digital tools that deliver a strong and seamless customer experience.
FNW: You’re keeping 546 jobs, many of them in stores. What are the next steps, particularly on the social front?
SC: As we’re taking over the company, on Monday I’ll be in Saint-Macaire to meet the employees who are part of the project. We’ll be putting together a new management team across most functions over the next few weeks. I would like to thank the management team, who have done their utmost to steer the company through difficult conditions in recent years. In our takeover plan, we have committed to investing 700,000 euros to acquire the brand’s assets and inventories, and 700,000 euros to contribute to the PSE. Matters concerning those who are leaving will be handled by the court-appointed liquidator. However, we intend to rehire a few people to help secure the path forward over the coming months.
FNW: In your plan, a number of activities were to be discontinued. Where are you going to focus your efforts?
SC: We’re refocusing on IKKS’s adult business. We’re putting the junior business on hold. Even though that’s the brand’s roots, in France the leading player in the junior market is the second-hand segment. We have to accept that reality. But those consumers who were juniors are now adults and already have a relationship with the brand. At the same time, the group had been managing I.Code and One Step. It’s time to refocus on the flagship and discontinue the two brands and childrenswear. It’s important to note that the junior segment accounts for 82% of IKKS’s losses.
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FNW: Does this mean that you think the adult part of IKKS, the core on which you’re refocusing, could be profitable fairly quickly?
SC: You’re right. As early as the first year—2026, which will be a transitional year—we have a profitable business model, with reinvestment back into the company.
FNW: Alongside the buyout, you announced a 16 million euro investment package. What are your investment priorities?
SC: We’ve budgeted almost 17 million euros to get the supply chain engine up and running again. It’s a real machine. We’re going to invest in boosting the brand’s desirability, and in IT infrastructure that is from another era, which we’ll upgrade in the first quarter. In my experience, I’ve always been quick to transform companies.
FNW: What will you bring over from your experience at Levi’s and Dockers? What do you think is essential to the successful evolution of a brand?
SC: We’re going to clarify the brand’s identity and values. We’ll enhance the customer experience, particularly by engaging more meaningfully with our community and relying a little less on promotions alone. To do this, we’ll invest in infrastructure and in our go-to-market. We’ll invest in production capabilities so we can be more flexible and hold inventory that matches market needs. We want to be less dependent on promotional periods.
FNW: Is the idea also to reduce the share of revenue coming from markdowns?
SC: You have to be clear about prices. You can’t set a price and then run permanent promotions afterwards. So we’re going to bring more clarity for consumers to the pricing structure, especially at the start of the season. By the way, the design team has done a great job, which is why we’re keeping them on. Now we’re going to make this offer more visible, with a pricing structure that has to be logical. Encouragingly, the results for this reworked adult offer are positive.
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With sustainability benchmarks rising, companies are rethinking how they produce and deliver, pivoting toward greener, more circular models that reduce waste, emissions, and resource use.
The stakes are high. In 2025, Vietnam’s exports to the EU reportedly reached $56.2 billion, up 10.1 per cent year on year, underscoring how pivotal Europe is for the country’s manufacturing base.
Vietnam’s textile and footwear exporters are accelerating sustainability efforts as stricter EU regulations reshape market access requirements.
Rising compliance pressure from measures such as CBAM and ESPR is pushing manufacturers toward circular production, cleaner technologies and greater supply-chain transparency, though limited green finance remains a major challenge for smaller firms.
The EU market, nevertheless, comes with its own challenges as access to this market increasingly depends on meeting strict environmental and product-design requirements.
The EU is rolling out an ambitious sustainability agenda, including the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) and the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR). Together, these measures are changing what global suppliers must document, design, and decarbonise.
ESPR shifts expectations toward durability, repairability, and recyclability, while pushing manufacturers to reduce products’ overall environmental footprint. Supply chains are also expected to become more transparent through Digital Product Passports, and practices such as destroying unsold goods being phased out gradually.
For Vietnam’s exporters, compliance is becoming a baseline requirement to keep EU orders and remain competitive.
Recognising this, both the Government and industry players are stepping up. Vietnam’s long-term development strategy for textiles and footwear, which stretches to 2030 with a vision toward 2035, places sustainability at its core. The plan charts a path toward efficient, environmentally responsible growth anchored in a circular economy, where materials are reused, waste is minimised, and production cycles are closed rather than linear.
Crucially, it also provides a legal backbone to help businesses align with global sustainability trends.
On the ground, change is already underway. Textile and apparel manufacturers are investing in renewable energy, upgrading machinery, and fine-tuning production processes to cut emissions and resource use. These shifts are not just about compliance; they are about future-proofing operations in a market where green credentials increasingly determine who wins contracts.
However, the transition has not been entirely seamless. A key barrier seems to be access to green finance, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises. Large firms can more readily fund clean technologies and certification, while smaller suppliers often struggle to fund the shift, risking exclusion from high-value export markets if they cannot keep pace.
There is also a growing recognition that policy support needs to go further. As Vietnam leans into a circular economy, industry voices are calling for a more cohesive and comprehensive framework, one that not only sets clear standards for circular products but also actively incentivises recycling, cleaner production, and sustainable innovation.
Without this, progress risks being uneven, with smaller firms left behind.
Momentum is, nevertheless, building as manufacturers and policymakers push for better-aligned standards and support mechanisms. The goal is to narrow the gap between sustainability ambition and day-to-day implementation across the sector.
The aim is clear: create an ecosystem where businesses of all sizes can invest in circular solutions, strengthen their export capabilities, and meet the EU’s exacting standards head-on.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DR)
The increase was driven primarily by higher reinvested earnings and intra-company loans, indicating continued engagement by existing investors with Bangladesh.
Reinvested earnings rose by 318.25 per cent, from $103.79 million in 2024 to $434.10 million in 2025, while intra-company loans increased by 25.68 per cent, from $621.96 million to $781.68 million.
Bangladesh’s net FDI inflows increased by 39.36 per cent last year to $1,770.42 million compared with $1,270.39 million in 2024, the Bangladesh Bank said.
The increase was driven primarily by higher reinvested earnings and intra-company loans.
Reinvested earnings rose by 318.25 per cent, from $103.79 million in 2024 to $434.10 million in 2025, while intra-company loans rose by 25.68 per cent.
Equity capital remained broadly stable, rising by 1.84 per cent, from $544.64 million to $554.64 million in 2025, a release from Bangladesh Investment Development Authority said.
Greenfield project announcements declined by 16 per cent in 2025.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)
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