Charles Jourdan files for bankruptcy

The management of luxury shoe maker Charles Jourdan, an 80-year-old French design house, is set to file for bankruptcy. London-based designer Patrick cox had been the brand's creative director since 2004. "The managing director Christophe Beranger told APS that he would file for at the commercial court," said Martine Truchet, a member of the CGT trade union and secretary of the company's works committee.

The bankruptcy would cover three companies in the group which employ 532 people: Charles Jourdan industrie, the manufacturing unit; Charles Jourdan France , the marketing and administration division; and Sodepar, that runs the boutiques and factory shops. The company had accumulated debts of nine million euros, according to Truchet, and the workforce feared the worst after a special management meeting was called last Friday because of "treasury problems".

Jourdan had made efforts to restructure in June 2004 when it outsourced the production of handbags to a foreign supplier, Truchet said. Only shoes are still produced at the company's factory in Romans in south-east France. There was further bad news for the French shoe industry on Monday when the commercial court in Romans ordered the liquidation of Stephane Kelian, another luxury shoe maker based in the same area.