Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Paris fashion label Y/Project is shutting down after 14 years in business.
The news follows a tough year for the buzzy, yet financially fragile brand. The company was placed in receivership in September following the death of owner Gilles Elalouf last June.
Creative director Glenn Martens and chief executive Pascal Conte-Jodra both exited the brand as it struggled to find a buyer, and was forced to scrap its September runway show amid cash flow issues.
Local fans turned out in force for recent clearance sales in Paris as the brand worked through excess stock before shutting off its e-commerce site and ceasing operations this week.
ADVERTISEMENT
“It is with great gratitude and sadness that the Y/Project team announces we will be officially closing the brand,” the company said in a post on Instagram.
Y/Project was co-founded by Elalouf and designer Yohan Serfaty, who hired Martens in his studio before dying of cancer in 2013. Martens went on to establish the label as one of Paris’ hottest emerging brands by leveraging pattern-making innovation to inject strangeness and novelty into wardrobe staples like blue jeans, blazers and dusters.
Y/Project won global notoriety as it dressed celebrity clients including Rihanna and Charli XCX, and won France’s biggest fashion prize ANDAM in 2017 and 2020.
Emerging labels have been hard hit by a broad slowdown in luxury demand, which has been particularly acute for online stockists who were essential partners for small brands.
How Matches’ Collapse Could Impact Independent Fashion
The luxury retailer’s closure has far-reaching knock-on effects for independent brands. Unpaid bills for inventory have pushed some labels into dire financial straits, while confidence in other stockists like Farfetch-backed Browns has sunk to a nadir.
