Spain's Blanco to relaunch under new name

Spanish womenswear brand Blanco is set to enter a new era. The liquidation process run by Global Leiva, the company behind the brand, continues but there is a project underway to relaunch the troubled fashion chain under a new name.

The business will change its name to New Blanco and its owners are planning to launch an accelerated store rollout. Catalan businessman Jordi Hidalgo and a group of former employees will set up a cooperative to carry out the project.

According to Expansion, the first stores will open this year and by the end of 2017 the company plans to have more than 30 physical shops. The property portfolio is expected to reach 120 locations by 2018.

The cooperative is currently made up of 36 members including Hildago as well as six partners, who joined the association without contributing capital. All of them come from the collapsed chain’s former worker cooperative.

Six Blanco stores in Andalucia, Madrid and Cataluña will reopen as New Blanco in June, the majority of them in the same unit they closed last year.

Jordi Hidalgo owns construction company Hipaldisa and said to Efe that New Blanco will be backed by a team of 40 professionals from different backgrounds, as well as the brand’s former workers.

In 2014, Blanco was rescued by Saudi retail group Alhokair for 40 million euros and in 2016, the company sold the brand to AC Modus. In December, Blanco entered liquidation after AC Modus failing to reach an agreement with creditors.

Spain's Blanco to relaunch under new name

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