French group leaves Morocco after only two years

The Moroccan clothing retail sector is doing poorly. Another French ready-to-wear brand has just announced its departure from Morocco.

While it initially planned to develop at least ten points of sale, Tape à l’Œil (TAO), the French children’s ready-to-wear brand, has decided to close these stores in the Casablanca Aeria Mall shopping center and the Arribat Center, the main shopping temple in Rabat. The brand had opened these stores in 2022 and 2023 respectively for an investment of more than 10 million DH. At the origin of this departure, “the crisis that the Moroccan clothing retail sector is currently going through and which has already caused the departure of several international brands (or at least their downsizing such as the Swedish H&M), believes Challenge. Another reason: “the domination of Turkish brands (LC Waikiki and De Facto in particular) in the children’s ready-to-wear segment, which undermines competition from other European brands present in Morocco (Petit Bateau, Mayoral, etc.).”