Paris is about to lose one of its most boundary-pushing labels. Y/Project is shutting down after failing to land a buyer following its sale listing last year. The closure arrives on the heels of Glenn Martens’s exit in September 2024 and the passing of co-founder Gilles Elalouf. Y/Project was set up by Elalouf and the late Yohan Serfaty, and in the wake of Elalouf’s death, the line went into receivership under a Parisian commercial court. A Hong Kong-based asset management firm offered €45,000 EUR, but the deal didn’t materialize.
Over the years, Y/Project counted 24 employees and reported nearly €11 million EUR in revenues in 2023. Martens, who joined as Serfaty’s first assistant in 2010, took the reins in 2013. Under his vision, Y/Project reworked silhouettes, delivered cheeky trompe l’oeil details, and walked away with the ANDAM Grand Prize in 2017. The house also made the shortlist for the 2016 LVMH Prize, earning a reputation as a key disruptor in Paris.
In an official statement, the company wrote: “Y/Project and the team thank all partners and supporters for their unwavering dedication to the brand throughout the years. Special thanks to Glenn Martens, Pascal Conte-Jodra, and the late Gilles Elalouf for giving their team the space to create and grow.”
A handful of archive pieces will live on in museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Antwerp’s MoMu, Palais Galliera in Paris, and the city’s Musée des Arts Décoratifs—an homage to Elalouf’s legacy. Y/Project is the latest name to bow out amid the current slowdown in luxury demand.
