Calida Selling Furniture Division

An image on the Calida website.

Calida Group, which sells underwear under that brand as well as the Aubade and Cosabella labels, announced it had received a “binding offer” to buy its Lafuma Mobilier division, a producer of outdoor furniture.

At the same time it predicted that first half sales for the entire company will be about 5% lower than last year, at 111 million Swiss francs (about $124 million at current exchange rates). It expects to report no operating income or up to a loss of one million Swiss francs (a possible loss of up to $1.1 million) in the period. It blamed the results on “the currently very weak consumer goods market,” and noted that Lafuma Mobilier is now “classified as a discontinued operation.” The full financial results will be published on July 25th.

The declining share of lingerie sales at Calida Holding is reflected on the covers of the 2013 (left) and 2014 (right) annual reports.

Calida boasted that “the divestment of the non-strategic outdoor furniture business is an important step in its strategic reorganization process started one year ago,” adding that the sale allows it “to focus on the operational excellence and the development of its underwear and lingerie brands Calida, Aubade and Cosabella.”

The company did not remind readers that ten years ago it had adopted the opposite strategy. In 2014, with sales declining slightly for the two underwear brands it owned at the time, Calida and Aubade, diversification was the policy of the moment. That year it completed the majority takeover of the Lafuma Group, then a producer of surfing, skiing and mountain climbing gear as well as the garden furniture. With the latter collection of products suddenly the majority portion of the business, climbing gear replaced lingerie on the cover of annual report. By 2020 the company had changed strategy again, however, and had begun shedding various parts of its non-underwear business. In 2022 it acquired Cosabella for $80 million including earn out. And now the remainder of Lafuma is going.

Felix Sulzberger, executive chairman of the board of Calida Group, (who was CEO at the time to the Lafuma acquisition a decade ago), noted in the latest announcement that “with the intended sale of Lafuma Mobilier, we are consistently focusing the Calida Group on its core underwear and lingerie business. This is a further step in the strategic realignment of the Group with a focus on the operational excellence of our core brands Calida, Aubade and Cosabella.”

The company revealed that the furniture division had generated sales of 48.9 million euros (about $53 million) in 2023. It added that “the sale is subject to a company consultation procedure in France.”