Is Marithé + François Girbaud coming back?

Only archive enthusiasts will remember, today, Marithé + François Girbaud. Belonging to the vast array of brands more or less overshadowed in the last decade, the label founded by Marithé Bachellerie and François Girbaud, which became a cult name in the '80s and '90s for its futuristic clothing, spent the past decade undergoing restructuring and bankruptcies. It continued to produce on the fringes of the industry, especially in Asia, and only a few weeks ago, rumors of a more substantial comeback began to emerge online. It is not a coincidence that their website now appears on the verge of a reboot, with an empty screen that simply says "Coming Soon" and invites users to enter their email address to be notified of the upcoming drop, defined, not coincidentally, as the "first." It seems, therefore, well-founded the hypothesis that the brand may have a relaunch under the simplified name Girbaud – perhaps suggesting that Marithé Bachellerie, even in the role of co-founder, may not be present in the studio. This hypothesis may not be well-founded, as they reportedly continued to work together until now.

But why return now and in this way? The most obvious answer is the worldwide boom of archive fashion. Over decades of activity, the two co-founders produced an enormous amount of clothing and accessories that have been rediscovered by vintage and secondhand enthusiasts in recent years. This is also due to the collective return to the vaguely futuristic designs of the Y2K era, thanks to Glenn Martens. Rediscovered by young Millennial archivists but especially by the South Korean audience, seen on Jungwoo of NCT and actress and model Go Yoon Jung who highly appreciate its crewneck sweatshirts, Girbaud has resurfaced from the past with all its subversive charge. Most likely, the renewed wave of demands motivated the return of the two co-founders and the rebranding. It makes one think that the brand's comeback is financed by investors in Korea who have evidently also crafted a social strategy with ambassadors boasting millions of followers. Now, it remains to be seen in what way the brand should return and, above all, whether the new and fresh identity it has assumed will bring a more modern sensibility to its collections while remaining connected to the brand's illustrious past.