The Kooples was bought to go global — six years later a distressed fund took it

The Kooples was founded in Paris in 2007 by the brothers Alexandre, Laurent and Raphaël Elicha — rock-and-roll tailoring sold as a couple's wardrobe. In 2019 MF Brands Group, the Geneva owner of Lacoste, Aigle, Gant and the Manor department stores, bought the label with ambitions to take it international. The expansion that followed, particularly in Asia and the United States, turned out to be very expensive.

By early 2025 the brand was in grave difficulty, and on 27 January 2025 MF Brands entered exclusive negotiations to sell it. The buyer was not another fashion group but Verdoso — a French industrial fund founded by Franck Ullmann in 1997 that specialises in troubled companies, with more than 30 acquisitions behind it. Verdoso took control in March 2025 after French competition clearance; the price was not disclosed.

The filed accounts show what MF Brands was selling. The Kooples Production's accounts for 2024 show revenue of €86.6 million against a net loss of €78.1 million, with equity below half of share capital and 28 legal disputes logged. The network that once spanned some 330 stores stood at 184 shops in France and 86 in the rest of Europe.

Verdoso ran the turnaround as its playbook prescribes: Anne-Laure Couplet, CEO since 2023, left, and at the turn of 2026 the fund installed Arnaud Reytan — a restructuring specialist from Carrefour and Brico Dépôt — as president. A brand built on glamour is now run by a specialist in companies that ran out of money.