Opinion
What could have been a dignified end turns into a corpse: After Esprit went bankrupt, competitor Deichmann secured the trademark rights. Not good news.
The fashion brand Esprit is insolvent. All 56 branches will soon disappear from German pedestrian zones. It is the bankruptcy of a company that was somehow always there and familiar. The fact that such a brand is now saying goodbye is in the nature of capitalism: Esprit’s last profitable financial year was 2013.
The sad thing is that around 1,300 people are losing their jobs. What’s also sad is that the traditional brand will not find its final rest. The competitor Deichmann has secured the shoe brand rights from Esprit. The trademark rights for the textile sector go to the opaque company Theia Brands.
Esprit is expressed
That’s a good thing, one might assume. The Esprit brand continues to exist. People who appreciate their style and value may be happy about them. The catch: Deichmann and Theia can now use Esprit’s promise of quality to sell goods that are far inferior.
What the two companies want is clear: to squeeze Esprit’s good reputation until there is not a drop left of it. It will take a while before the last loyal customer realizes that the Esprit slippers they bought from Deichmann no longer last two years, but are worn out after just six months.
Unworthy death
On this day, nothing will remain of the traditional brand’s reputation and Esprit’s success story will be devalued. Instead of “dying with dignity,” a once respectable brand name will have degenerated into junk.
Anyone who argues that the takeover brings new hope for continuation should be countered: it underlines the need to say goodbye to Esprit with dignity and respect instead of degrading the brand to another forgotten label that gets lost in the mass of fashion trends .
Source: Stern
