Coperni, the Paris label behind some of the most talked-about shows of the past decade, has announced that it has reached the end of the road. In a long message shared on Instagram on 4 November 2026, founders and creative directors Sébastien Meyer and Arnaud Vaillant announced that Coperni SAS, the brand’s French operating company, had ceased trading. According to France-Jeunes, the brand’s online store also closed with the announcement. Behind the decision lies a months-long dispute with the company that was the brand’s majority shareholder and sole distributor.
The founders’ message
The message, written in French, opens with the sentence “C’est avec une profonde tristesse que nous devons donc arrêter l’activité de Coperni SAS”, meaning the founders say that it is with deep sadness that they must stop the activity of Coperni SAS. According to FashionUnited, the pair said they had tried every avenue to protect the brand but no solution had been found; they thanked their teams, the workshops and factories they worked with, and everyone who wore their designs. According to W Magazine, the message ends with the words “See you soon”, a phrase that has prompted speculation that the duo may return to fashion in another form.
See Coperni's post on Instagram
How did the dispute begin?
Coperni’s majority stake and worldwide distribution were held by London-based group Tomorrow. According to France-Jeunes, Tomorrow became the brand’s majority partner through Coperni UK Limited, set up in the UK in 2019. In March 2026, Tomorrow was acquired by Progetto 11, to which Italian e-commerce company The Level Group belongs. After this change of ownership, the relationship between the founders and the shareholder quickly deteriorated.
The tension first became visible at the start of this year: Coperni did not take part in the Paris Fashion Week schedule for the Autumn-Winter 2026 season. According to W Magazine, the brand said at the time that its relationship with its shareholder had deteriorated to the point where it no longer had the means to support its development. For a while the founders looked for ways to regain control of the brand, but the attempt came to nothing.
The court process
According to a FashionUnited report published in June, on 11 June 2026 the Paris Commercial Court placed Coperni in redressement judiciaire, a protective receivership procedure similar to a creditor arrangement. The date on which payments ceased was set as 29 May 2026, and the company was to continue operating under the supervision of a court-appointed administrator during an observation period running until 11 December 2026. During this period a rescue plan, a new investor or sale options were to be considered.
According to a statement Coperni gave to Vogue Business in June, reported by FashionUnited, the cash shortage was caused not by falling sales but by Tomorrow Ltd. failing to pay sums it owed the brand. According to France-Jeunes, the founders say Tomorrow suspended payments due to them and unilaterally terminated the licence. Progetto 11, for its part, argues that the structure it acquired was already embroiled in litigation over ownership and management and lacked sufficient financing.
Press reports describe the company’s legal status differently. FashionUnited writes that Coperni has gone into compulsory liquidation, while France-Jeunes notes that the founders’ message does not explicitly mention liquidation and that it is not yet clear how the court process for Coperni SAS will end. One point is certain: the company that has stopped is the French operating company that employed the teams. The rights to the Coperni name, however, remain with Coperni UK Limited, which is controlled by the shareholder. In other words, the brand name may live on, but the duo who created it are no longer part of that structure.
A legacy of technology and spectacle
Meyer and Vaillant founded Coperni in 2013. According to W Magazine, the brand, named after the astronomer Copernicus, quickly won ANDAM’s creative label prize and was a finalist for the LVMH Prize. The pair took a break from Coperni for a time to serve as artistic directors of Courrèges, relaunching the brand in 2018.
What took Coperni to a wide audience were ideas that turned the runway into a stage show. At the Spring-Summer 2023 show, the dress sprayed live onto Bella Hadid on the runway, turning into fabric as it dried, went viral around the world on social media. The following season, robot dogs took to the runway. In autumn 2024 the brand staged a show with Disney at Disneyland Paris. The Swipe Bag, inspired by the iPhone’s swipe-to-unlock gesture, became the brand’s bestseller and was reinterpreted in unusual materials such as glass, gold and even meteorite.
Why it matters
Coperni’s story shows that capturing a viral moment and building a strong brand identity are not enough on their own. Many independent designer brands need a large partner for production, distribution and financing. When the shareholder in that partnership changes or payments falter, even a brand with healthy sales can quickly grind to a halt. The fact that the brand name remains with the holding company rather than the founders is also an important lesson for young designers: who holds the rights to the name in a contract is just as decisive as creative freedom.
Seen from Turkey, the picture is familiar too. For young Turkish designers rising on the international stage, investor and licensing agreements are the key to growth; the Coperni case makes clear why the details of those agreements deserve close attention. You can find the season schedules for Paris and the other fashion capitals in our Fashion Week Calendar 2026-2027 guide.
Sources
- FashionUnited — the founders’ closure announcement, 4 November 2026
- W Magazine — the brand’s closure and history
- France-Jeunes — the company’s status and brand rights
- FashionUnited — the Paris Commercial Court ruling, June 2026
Image: Model Kiki Willems in the Coperni Spring-Summer 2021 collection at the Eiffel Tower — Jean du Sartel-Heintz, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0
The Instagram posts in this article are official posts from the respective accounts and are published using Instagram’s embed tool; all image rights belong to their owners.