The encyclopedia · Strategy & Leadership · Strategic decision · 2023
Salamander and Reborn — French shoe brands that disappeared overnight
French footwear group Solemma, owner of Salamander and Reborn brands, was liquidated in February 2023 — 19 stores closed, 100 jobs lost, €10.7M revenue
Solemma · Salamander · Reborn · 2023-02-23
What happened
Solemma was a French shoe retail company headquartered in Sillingy, Haute-Savoie, that owned two footwear chains. Salamander was a well-known mid-market brand offering classic and casual shoes for men, women, and children — a familiar name on French shopping streets for decades. Reborn was a younger, trendier concept targeting fashion-conscious customers. In 2021, Solemma generated €10.7 million in revenue.
The company entered redressement judiciaire on 26 September 2022, seeking a buyer or a viable restructuring plan. For five months under court protection, Solemma's management searched for an acquirer willing to take on the business as a going concern. No viable offer materialised. On 23 February 2023, the Annecy Commercial Court pronounced liquidation judiciaire — immediate liquidation with no continuation of activity.
All 19 stores of both Salamander and Reborn closed permanently. All 100 employees were made redundant. The liquidation marked the end of Salamander's presence in French retail, a brand that had been present in city centres and shopping centres for decades. The case exemplifies the structural crisis facing France's mid-market independent shoe retail, squeezed by fast-fashion footwear, online pure players, and discount chains.
Why it happened
- Mid-market shoe retail in France was squeezed by fast-fashion footwear, online pure players, and discount chains — a chain of only 19 stores could not compete on price or range
- Neither brand had a distinct enough identity — Salamander was generic mid-market and Reborn was a niche that never reached critical mass — so no buyer saw value in keeping either banner alive
- A chain of only 19 stores could not achieve the scale needed for efficient supply chains, competitive pricing, or meaningful investment in e-commerce
- The fact that no buyer emerged even at the liquidation stage — not for the store network, not for the brand names — showed the market had already moved past the mid-market shoe retail model
The lesson
A small shoe chain without scale or differentiation cannot survive mid-market retail's decline — when every competitor is cheaper or more specialised, the middle is the most dangerous place
Aftermath
Solemma was placed in liquidation judiciaire on 23 February 2023 by the Annecy Commercial Court. All 19 Salamander and Reborn stores closed permanently and all 100 employees were dismissed. The Salamander brand, which had been a fixture of French shoe retail for decades, ceased to exist as a retail presence in France. The case is representative of the broader decline of mid-market independent shoe chains in France, where brands that lacked the scale to compete with fast fashion and the differentiation to attract a loyal niche could not survive the post-pandemic retail environment.
Sources
- FashionNetwork FR — Solemma placée en liquidation judiciaire (Feb 2023)
- FashionNetwork US — France's Solemma, owner of Salamander and Reborn, placed in receivership (Feb 2023)
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