Zadig & Voltaire appoints former Kidiliz CEO Rémy Baume as president

By

Sarah Ahssen

Translated by
Nicola Mira

Published
Jan 10, 2020

French affordable luxury label Zadig & Voltaire has recently appointed Rémy Baume as president. He succeeds Jean-Jacques Guével, who was appointed CEO of Balmain last December.

From November 2013, Rémy Baume was the president of French childrenswear specialist Kidiliz. Over the course of nearly seven years, he led the group which aggregates 15 proprietary and licensed brands (among them Catimini, Absorba, Kenzo Kids and Paul Smith Junior), shepherding it through various transformations: from the name change in 2016 - the group was formerly called Zannier after its founder - to the acquisition by Chinese apparel giant Semir in 2018. The latter has scaled up the Kidiliz group's capabilities, enabling it to accelerate its expansion on the much-coveted Chinese market. 
 
For Rémy Baume, who also worked for the Carrefour group as strategy director, then as executive director of non-food products, China will be on the horizon at Zadig & Voltaire too. The label, founded in 1998 by Thierry Gillier, generates 20% of its sales in the USA, but now intends to step up the pace of its expansion in Asia, and especially China, where it plans to open 45 stores within five years.

Zadig & Voltaire generates a revenue of approximately €300 million, and is present in some 30 countries, where it operates over 120 monobrand stores and is distributed by 420 multibrand retailers.

In April 2018, Zadig & Voltaire asked the Rothschild bank to search for a new shareholder, as the label intends to pave the way for the exit of TA Associates, which has held a 30% stake in Zadig & Voltaire since 2012.