Following months of trying to resolve its conflict with its distributor and shareholder, Tomorrow, Coperni has ceased operations, the brand revealed today.
In a personal memo shared with Vogue Business, co-founders and creative directors Arnaud Vaillant and Sébastien Meyer said they had been unable to fix an ongoing dispute involving unpaid sums.
“These eight years have been extraordinary,” the Coperni duo shared in a personal email. “Coperni has always been a collective adventure, and we are immensely proud of what we have created.” The company thanked the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode (FHCM), stores, buyers, press, celebrities, models, and other industry figures who had supported them.
“As the world becomes increasingly challenging, particularly in the fashion industry, we believe there is still so much to create and reinvent,” they said. “Innovation has always been our passion and a priority in everything we do. We look ahead with optimism and plenty of ideas, and cannot wait to share them with you.”
In June, Vogue Business reported that Coperni had secured protection from the Paris Court (France’s equivalent of Chapter 11) to help Coperni continue operating. At the time, Vaillant told Vogue Business that the support followed several months of pending payments owed to the brand by Tomorrow, its exclusive distributor and majority shareholder. Additionally, Coperni shared that Tomorrow had terminated its licensing agreement in place.
Complicating the issue, Tomorrow Ltd was sold to Progetto 11 in March. As previously reported, Progetto 11 is the holding company for Italian e-commerce platform The Level Group, which has worked with brands including Palm Angels, Herno, and Off-White. Former CEO and founder of Tomorrow, Stefano Martinetto, stepped down after the sale was completed.
Since then, the Coperni founders had been attempting to buy back their brand from Progretto 11. “Our view is based on what we found when we arrived [at the] end of March: a business already in the middle of a broader dispute about ownership and governance, lacking funding, also resulting in the cancellation of the last fashion show, and founders seeking to reacquire control,” Progetto 11 said in a statement at the time.
In June, Progetto 11 clarified that Coperni has been controlled by two entities: holding company Coperni UK Limited, which holds the license with Tomorrow, and subsidiary Coperni SAS, the main French operating company that oversees day-to-day operations and employs the teams.
Tomorrow acted as a licensor and distributor across its portfolio of brands, receiving all revenues and paying royalties to brands based on their individual deals. Tomorrow would also reimburse brands for costs incurred outside of design — like producing fashion shows or campaigns — but as Tomorrow’s wholesale business faltered due to challenging industry circumstances, Coperni claimed the company ceased paying Coperni’s revenue share and reimbursements.
In fiscal 2024, Tomorrow’s turnover fell 34% to £8.4 million, while gross profit margin decreased from 76% in 2023 to 41% year-on-year. And the company’s operating losses were mounting, up 28% year-on-year to £7.5 million. (Tomorrow had not submitted its fiscal 2025 earnings to Companies House by the time of the sale.)
Tomorrow’s issues first emerged when Coperni abruptly canceled its Fall/Winter 2026 show at Paris Fashion Week. In March, Martine Rose (also in the Tomorrow portfolio) shared a statement noting that she was unable to produce her upcoming collection due to reasons outside her control.
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