Sessùn sells minority stake to Experienced Capital Partners

By

Anaïs Lerévérend

Translated by
Nicola Mira

Published
Jun 2, 2017

Experienced Capital Partners have picked another fine brand in the high-end women's ready-to-wear segment. The investment fund created in January 2016 by Frédéric Biousse, Elie Kouby and Emmanuel Pradère has in fact acquired a 43% stake in French womenswear label Sessùn. Emma François, who founded the label in 1995, remains the majority shareholder with a 57% interest.

François is also Sessùn's lead designer, and she will continue to be in charge of the creative side of the business too. Twenty-two years after its launch, the high-end womenswear label can be proud of its sound financial health, remarkable in a self-funded brand, having grown its business gradually in France and elsewhere. In 2016, the Marseilles-based label generated a revenue of €20 million, coming from twelve monobrand stores (nine of them in France and the others in Berlin, Brussels and Antwerp), as well as from 800 retailers worldwide, between multibrand and department stores.

In the 2000s, Sessùn has carved a space for itself with its subtle, fresh style, together with other womenswear labels whose positioning is now collectively defined as 'accessible luxury'. A rarity among them, it was one of the few which had remained totally independent. In the last few years, Sessùn fleshed out its organisation to begin a new development stage, notably by opening an office in Paris, and now it will be able to rely on the backing of Experienced Capital Partners to further deploy its style.

An understated yet inspired style, which Emma François has been busy extending across different segments. Besides the main collections and the pre-collections, Sessùn also features a wide range of accessories (especially footwear and leather goods), as well as a bridal and a home decoration line. Sessùn is a fine addition to the portfolio of Experienced Capital Partners, alongside other French labels such as Balibaris, Soeur, Maison Standards, Le Slip Français, Figaret and Jimmy Fairly.