Sonia Rykiel licenses out children's line
The adventure of Sonia Rykiel junior is set to continue. The Parisian label was forced to make strategic choices in 2016 to cut costs, notably deciding to stop developing its children's line internally. But a partner has now been found to carry on with the label's collection for girls.
Parisian design studio Make will in fact take charge of the creation, development and distribution of Sonia Rykiel's childrenswear. The partnership will begin with the Spring/Summer 2018 collection, which as before will feature two lines: one for girls aged 2 to 14, and another for baby girls, from 3 to 18 months.
Make was founded in 2003 by Alice Schmeltz as a consultant to children's fashion labels, often designing entire lines for them, as it is doing now for Sonia Rykiel and as it did in the past for Eleven Paris, Fiorucci and Dolce & Gabbana. The studio is renowned for its quirky, cheeky approach to children's ready-to-wear apparel.
The transition from an internally designed children's collection to a licensed one will be seamless for Sonia Rykiel, as the last collection developed internally by the Parisian label, Autumn/Winter 2017, will be delivered soon. The girls' line is a long-established feature of Sonia Rykiel, its first models having shown in 1983 alongside the Saint-Germain-des-Prés label’s womenswear line.
Sonia Rykiel is owned since 2012 by Chinese investment fund First Heritage Brands, and has recently decided to refocus on its first line, discontinuing its second womenswear brand Sonia By and cutting a quarter of its workforce in an effort to remain competitive in an "unfavourable market environment."
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