The cosmetics association VKE is making allegations against the financially troubled KaDeWe Group. The luxury department store company, which filed for insolvency this week, has recently not paid numerous invoices or only paid them after threatening legal action, association managing director Andreas Fuhlisch told the German Press Agency. KaDeWe Group did not respond to requests for comment. The “Lebensmittel Zeitung” had previously reported.
The industry association represents the interests of 65 manufacturers in the skin care, make-up and perfume sectors, including L’Oréal, Coty, Dior and Chanel. According to their own information, the company’s turnover in Germany is 2.3 billion euros.
According to Fuhlisch, several companies informed the VKE in December about significant payment delays. The association then wrote to KaDeWe twice in January. Claims “in some cases of significant magnitude” were not paid or were only paid with considerable delays, the letter said. This remained unanswered despite the deadline. “We were irritated that we didn’t get any feedback,” said Fuhlisch.
At the beginning of this week, when the KaDeWe Group filed for bankruptcy, the companies received at least an indirect answer as to what the difficulties could be attributed to. The cosmetics manufacturers are obviously not alone. According to a report by the business magazine “Capital”, suppliers of other goods, craft companies and other service providers had similar experiences. When asked, the KaDeWe Group did not comment on the allegations. (dpa)