PARIS — Coperni will officially cease operations, founders Arnaud Vaillant and Sébastien Meyer announced Wednesday in a personal statement sent via email to members of the press and retail partners. The decision marks the end of an eight-year run for the innovative French fashion house, which became globally renowned for its high-tech runway spectacles, avant-garde designs, and viral digital moments. Despite months of legal maneuvers and efforts by the cofounders to salvage the independent trajectory of the brand, the duo ultimately concluded that a viable path forward could not be secured.
The closure comes several months after the brand entered receivership in June. At the time, Vaillant and Meyer were actively seeking to disentangle themselves and their label from the fashion development platform Tomorrow London Group, which had served as Coperni’s majority shareholder and exclusive distributor since 2019. The partnership, initially designed to accelerate the brand’s global growth and operational scale, eventually soured amid structural shifts and financial disputes, setting the stage for a protracted corporate battle that drained the label’s resources and ultimately halted its creative output.
In their joint statement released on Wednesday, the founders expressed profound regret over the outcome while reflecting on the journey that brought the brand to international prominence. "Unfortunately, despite all our efforts, no solution could be found, and we have decided, with great sadness, to stop Coperni’s operations," Vaillant and Meyer wrote. They added that the brand’s eight years of existence had been "extraordinary" and emphasized that they remained deeply proud of the creative universe, collections, and cultural touchstones they had successfully built together since the label’s modern revival.
The legal unraveling of Coperni accelerated earlier this year when a Paris commercial court granted the brand’s request for court protection on June 11, formally placing the company into receivership. Speaking at the time of the filing, Vaillant revealed that the business had been subjected to severe and unsustainable financial strain. This pressure followed a prolonged period during which Tomorrow London Group allegedly stopped distributing crucial payments owed to key partners, suppliers, and operational collaborators. According to Vaillant, the receivership proceedings were initially intended to serve as a protective shield, allowing the independent label to continue its creative work, safeguard the jobs of its dedicated employees, and secure a viable financial future.
Determined to regain full control over their intellectual property, creative direction, and corporate destiny, the cofounders had previously taken the drastic step of pulling out of Paris Fashion Week in March as the underlying shareholder dispute intensified. Following the subsequent receivership filing, the brand was conspicuously absent from the subsequent fashion calendar, missing key seasonal showcases that had previously served as major focal points for industry buzz and commercial buying. The absence from the runway underscored the deep operational paralysis gripping the company as the legal and financial battle lines hardened behind the scenes.
The corporate turmoil surrounding Coperni unfolded against a backdrop of significant ownership changes at its parent entity. During the height of the dispute, Tomorrow London Group underwent a major corporate transition, being acquired in March by Progetto 11, the private holding company associated with e-commerce platform The Level Group. That transaction resulted in the complete exit of Tomorrow’s previous shareholders and leadership figures, including founder and chief executive officer Stefano Martinetto, as well as Three Hills Capital Partners. Despite the leadership shakeup and the introduction of new corporate stakeholders, Vaillant and Meyer were ultimately unable to negotiate terms that would allow them to reclaim autonomy or secure the independent funding necessary to sustain Coperni as a standalone entity.
Throughout its eight-year tenure under Vaillant and Meyer, Coperni carved out a distinct and influential niche within the contemporary luxury landscape, driven by an unyielding fascination with technology, digital culture, and experimental show formats. The design duo consistently blurred the lines between high fashion, science, and performance art, creating viral moments that regularly dominated global social media feeds and captured mainstream cultural attention. Among their most legendary presentations was a spring runway show held at Disneyland Paris, which featured celebrity guest Kylie Jenner walking in a dramatic modern princess gown. Even more iconic was their spring 2023 finale, where supermodel Bella Hadid stood nearly naked on a runway while liquid fabric was spray-painted directly onto her body, hardening into a wearable white slip dress in real time—a masterclass in fashion marketing and material innovation that cemented Coperni’s status as a disruptor.
In their closing remarks on Wednesday, Vaillant and Meyer signaled that their creative ambitions extend far beyond the parameters of the brand they founded, noting that there is "still so much we want to explore and reinvent." While the chapter on Coperni has officially drawn to a close, the legacy of the house will endure through its contributions to fashion technology, its bold disruption of traditional presentation models, and the indelible mark it leaves on the contemporary Paris fashion scene.
