Promise of hope

Dear all, 

For the past week, we have been facing an unprecedented crisis affecting our entire economy, but above all, endangering the health of many loved ones.
Our lives have been upended. We must say goodbye, for now, to the simple pleasures that once shaped our daily routines and brought us happiness.
We need to find new ways to pass the time, new methods of working remotely for some, and urgent adaptations for others. 

This situation has significant consequences for a brand like ours.
As leaders, we must make difficult decisions that will impact our employees, suppliers, and all our stakeholders. 

We want to explain how this challenging context affects our company and the approach we intend to take in response.

THE FIRST HOURS: a lot of worry / the unknown

When the Prime Minister announced the closure of all public venues, and since this was not considered a "first necessity," our initial reaction was fear.
Of course, for our employees. For our suppliers as well. But also for our young company. 

For five years, Pied de Biche has been driven by the desire to always push further, to do better: we open new stores, recruit new talent, develop new products, and build new commercial relationships.
So naturally, when we learned that our stores had to close, it hit our morale—as it did for many—since this distribution channel accounts for nearly half of our sales, and shutting it down risked the collapse of our business. 

THE NEXT DAY: reflection / moving forward

After the initial shock, we are assessing the impact of this situation and beginning to consider solutions.
No choice. We must move forward. It is even essential to keep our business afloat and preserve its long-term stability. 

Our primary focus is on our employees. The most important thing for us.
To ensure job security, we have decided to implement partial unemployment for our store teams and some head office staff.
As business leaders, this is a difficult decision, and we have taken it with a heavy heart, but we prefer this to permanently cutting jobs once the crisis ends: with a 75% drop in our turnover, we had to reduce costs and adapt our way of working.
Thanks to government support, we are assured that our employees will continue to receive over 80% of their salary. 

Regarding the financial stability of Pied de Biche, we also had to defer loan repayments, which requires negotiations with banks to secure their support during this difficult period, to borrow again, and to do our best to prevent our cash flow from deteriorating critically.

THE DAYS THAT FOLLOW: decisions / our production

Of course, if this situation were only French, we could at least ensure the continuation of our production.
But Portugal, where our entire manufacturing process takes place, is not spared and faces the same difficulties of this crisis as we do.
Many factories are threatened and may have to close after this crisis.
The health of our suppliers, who are our primary partners, depends directly on our orders, which is why we have decided to maintain all of our production.

At the same time, we must encourage our employees to keep going. We are implementing processes to become even more efficient.
We are improving our website to make it more enjoyable and user-friendly.
And most importantly, we are designing the next collection, even more beautiful than the previous one, to enhance our products. Once again.

AND BEYOND ALL THIS: a promise of hope

As a company, we have the ability to make a positive impact on society and the planet. To us, it is a duty.
Since we created the brand, and as a “non-essential” business, we want to help. Even modestly.

After supporting AIDES for four years, Sea Shepherd, and Aide et Action last winter, we have decided to donate 10% of our turnover generated during the entire confinement period to organizations working tirelessly to end this unfortunate situation:
- APHP, fighting daily against the spread of the virus,
- L’Institut Pasteur, actively researching treatments for the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) for a safer future.

In these difficult times, every gesture counts, and your support is precious to us, whatever form it takes:
You are obviously a great support when you place an order on our online shop, which remains open.
We also now offer you the choice to receive your order for free via Colissimo once the confinement ends, or within 48 hours with contactless delivery.
Our logistics partner strictly adheres to the hygiene and safety measures recommended by the WHO.

Our return policy has been extended to 90 days.

But you are also an unwavering support when we read and receive all your many messages of encouragement.
They warm our hearts and give us strength to continue and move forward.
Thanks to you, we have been able to go this far, and it is because of you that we will get through this. So, thank you.

We remain hopeful and continue to dream of a beautiful, colorful, joyful summer, with Pied de Biche on everyone’s feet.

Take care of yourselves.
Jérôme, Matthieu & the entire team.

All information regarding deliveries during the confinement period here.