According to the French Fashion Union, the collaborative network for young fashion professionals, half of the emerging brands in its community risk going out of business for lack of suitable assistance during the Coronavirus crisis. Interview with Morgan Bancel, co-founder of the FFU.

By Ludmilla Intravaia 

Le Boudoir Numérique : What are the difficulties suffered by young creators, due to the Coronavirus crisis?

Morgan Bancel, co-founder of the French Fashion Union : There are two types of creators, mixed businesses that sell both wholesale and direct and those that sell mainly directly. The central difficulty encountered by the former is that their wholesale customers are closed and no longer buying goods from them. Some of them simply do not pay anymore, which will cause a big cash crisis for this first typology of creators. The second type is faced with the problem of its direct sales decrease, since people consume much less, which generates an extreme slowdown in activity. Anyway, the problem common to these two typologies will turn out to be production, since today the workshops are either closed or dedicated to the production of masks or medical workwear and take much less orders from the creators. Those who have stock use it but others do not have it at all, because they are always on a just-in-time basis. So, the majority of creators will soon be confronted with a big shortage in terms of stocks and will no longer be able to sell.

What actions has the FFU taken to date to help the members of its association and of its Facebook community?

We are invested in two ways. First of all, we have made available to young creators content that will allow them to restart their activities as soon as possible, at the end of the Covid-19 crisis. We have focused this content on the digital topic and in particular on internet sales, since in the absence of information on the reopening of shops, e-commerce will probably be the most appropriate means for a rapid restart. We made Facebook lives in which we took care to be very concrete and to present turnkey strategies. We are currently thinking about how to perpetuate this sharing of knowledge, by launching in the future a program of one live per month, in the company of guests specialized in themes likely to interest young creators. We have also scheduled 45-minute personalized coaching sessions for brands in our community.

What else have you done?

We have created a survey to be completed by young creators (see the link, below, in this article, AN), in order to take stock of their current situation and to know what they need to face the crisis. The data collected will be modeled in the form of infographics and content to be presented to the press, at the end of this week or at the beginning of the following one, in order to alert it on the problems encountered. For the moment, our results are still partial, our figures having to be fleshed out with more answers from the survey participants, but our observation is already terrible : more than 50% of young creators tell us that they will probably end their activity during the crisis or at the end of it. More precisely, 10% are sure to be forced to close down and 42.5% will probably do so. This is terrible, because this situation is due to the fact that young creators will not have been properly helped to be able to survive during this little moment of crisis.

What do you mean by that ? Are there not state support measures in place to help companies deal with the situation?

We are in the same boat as everyone else for obtaining help, namely the famous forms to fill out online, especially for the help of 1500 euros per month. However, the young designers we represent are brands that have existed for one or two years. And they do not fit into any of the boxes of the help offered by the state. Indeed, to benefit from it, you must be able to justify a drop in your activity, which cannot be demonstrated by young creators with one or two of existence. How could they say that they made 70% less revenue this year, whereas last year, at the same period, they made almost no or little money, since they had just launch their activity? So young creators are not eligible for any help, while they are struggling like the others businesses. 

What goal are you pursuing by alerting the press?

We want to make it clear that we must help young fashions designers who don’t fit in the box. Of course, the majority of brands check all the boxes, but that is not a reason for the others to be put aside. According to the figures collected by us, 40% of young creators who have studied help solutions are not eligible for anything. It’s really a shame, because among these emerging brands, there are surely great talents who would have made exceptional companies. However, they will not succeed, simply because they do not fit into the box of 70% of revenue lost, compared to last year. I understand that we must help the biggest, the oldest first, because they are the most present, those who have the most impact in the economy, but one thing bothers me is that among those who are going to die today, there were future stars and we did not help them. So look at us and reach out to us. And if we don't fit into the boxes, let's create boxes specially for us.

How do you see the future, when the crisis will be over, say in September?

I don’t like to guess too much, because it’s the best way to be wrong. I can just speak for my own brand Esther Bancel, for the brands that I accompany and those of the FFU community. Today, it is becoming more and more difficult to generate revenue, because it must be bought, it must be paid for by various means, in particular by advertising. And it has become very expensive, because it is increasingly difficult to capture people's attention. I don't think that by September, we will succeed in re-capturing the attention of potential customers about purchasing. So, between today and September, the best thing for all creators is not to stop selling, far from it, but to try to capitalize on what is happening right now, it is to say a huge ball of emotion that has submerged the world, by strengthening as much as possible the links with their community to maintain and develop it. So that, in September, when people will have taken a little vacation, for those who will be able to do it, we can use this brand emotional capital, nourished during this crisis period, to start selling again. So, in September, will sales explode or will we continue to struggle? I really don't know.

* The FFU website is here. The Facebook community is there. The FFU survey is there.

* Continue reading on French Fashion Union with these following Boudoir Numérique papers:

- “The FFU association website is 100% collaborative”

- "Digital tools like FFU are useful to young creators"