French jewelry brand expanded into everything — and collapsed under its own weight

Biche de Bere was founded in 1993 by Nelly Biche, a designer trained at the École Supérieure de Design Industriel in Paris and the Pratt Institute in New York. The brand sold costume jewelry through its own boutiques and grew rapidly — opening stores in Paris, Nantes, Nice, and then New York and Los Angeles. By 1996 it had built a factory in Châteaubriant, investing 6.8 million francs and employing 40 people.

The company hit its first cash-flow crisis in 1998 and entered judicial reorganization. It survived, but founder Nelly Biche responded by diversifying — launching a ready-to-wear line in 1999, then accessories, then children's wear, then household linen, then wedding dresses. By 2006 the company had 300 employees, 34 stores in France and 46 abroad, and revenue of €8 million. But it was doing too many things and none of them well.

In April 2007, Biche de Bere entered judicial reorganization for the second time. The court found the company had no realistic recovery plan. On 31 October 2007 it was dissolved, and in November 2007 it was placed in immediate judicial liquidation with liabilities of €7–10 million. All 180 remaining employees lost their jobs. Founder Nelly Biche attempted a comeback in 2021 with new boutiques, but those also failed in 2023.