Designer French brand Marithé + François Girbaud (M+FG) is vying for another comeback, this time rebranded to simply “Girbaud.”
From Dec. 19-22, 10 a.m. through 7 p.m., Girbaud has 108 15-minute “fitting room appointments” at 45 Av. George V—a Parisian storefront occupied by The Kooples and a perfumery—for customers to experience the first drop. In an Instagram post on the brand’s official account @girbaud_official, Girbaud teases an assortment of logo sweats, T-shirts and baseball caps.
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The brand first hinted at a return to the fold on Nov. 21 in an Instagram post; roughly 10 years after Marithé + François Girbaud shut down.
For denim heads and vintage enthusiasts, the return is a big deal. Many fans of the original collections left comments on the brand’s Instagram posts about pieces they bought decades ago and still have. Others requested specific styles to come back like “skinny cowboy” jeans.
Many of the styles M+FG began with are back in vogue. The brand was once the definition of a rebellious designer fashion, pioneering sustainable finishing processes, step hems and twisted leg engineering.
Since Marithé + François Girbaud (M+FG) ceased operations over a decade ago, the brand has tried—and failed—to come back to the luxury denim market in a meaningful way.
Founders Marithé Bachellerie and François Girbaud resurrected the revered brand under a new operating company, Mad Lane, in 2015, however it quietly disappeared. The M+FG label was producing collections for its French flagships as recently as 2019, puttering with denim painting parties and small-run collaborations throughout the years.
These efforts amassed significantly less acclaim than when M+FG was in its heyday, with its designer denim sported by the likes of Michael Jordan and Janet Jackson.
The brand, which saw great success in the ‘90s for its Shuttle Jeans, was affected by the 2008 financial crisis as well as fans distancing themselves from Girbaud’s racially insensitive remarks, in which the designer expressed disdain for his brand’s association with the hip-hop community. Girbaud later went on the record to say the language barrier contributed to his words being misinterpreted.
M+FG declared bankruptcy in 2012 and liquidated in 2013.
