Young French designers struggle amid financial instability and skills shortages

On the eve of Paris Fashion Week, several young French designers — including Mossi, Jeanne Friot, Pierre-François Valette, Phileo Landowski and Steven Passaro — spoke at La Caserne to discuss the difficulties they face in their business.

Precarious economic conditions, competitive imbalances, inadequate training and a shortage of technical skills were among the main points raised during this meeting.

They all spoke of their financial instability, including the difficulty of making a sustainable living from their work, constant pressure on cash flow from collection presentations, production and operations, and the frequent need to seek external funding. The entrepreneurial journey is described as an “obstacle course”. It is a mental burden with a multiplication of roles, including design, management and financing, to the point that some houses close a few years after their launch.

The high cost of shows, showrooms and presentations, along with recurring expenses linked to the Paris Fashion Week schedule, impacts their cash flow. This makes them dependent on one-off support such as prizes and private partnerships, forcing them to reduce their margins. They feel that fashion receives limited institutional support compared to other cultural sectors.

Paris Fashion Week: young French designers warn of fragile business model

Meeting at La Caserne at the proposal of Nicolas Bonnet-Ouladj and Emmanuel Grégoire Credits: Paris City Hall

During PFW, they feel they are not on an equal footing within the ecosystem. They consider themselves disadvantaged compared to the economic power of major brands. They are also in competition with foreign designers who are placed at the same level on the schedule, but for whom the cost of labour to produce a collection is significantly lower.

Furthermore, the high cost of fashion schools tends to steer training towards stylist profiles, to the detriment of technical roles essential for manufacturing. As a result, designers find a lack of people trained in manufacturing, assembly and machine operation and face difficulties in recruiting operational staff for their ateliers. The scarcity of available technical profiles contributes to increased production costs.

Several designers highlighted their active role in passing on skills and supporting local employment, with some directly training young talent or developing production facilities for other brands.

How can the independence of this new generation of designers be ensured? While the speakers acknowledged the scope of municipal action on the eve of the elections, they pointed out that their difficulties also relate to national issues such as training, taxation and the industrial model of fashion in France.

This article was translated to English using an AI tool.

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Jeanne Friot

Mossi

PFW

Valette Studio