Sonia Rykiel's colorful Left Bank fashion empire entered a severe corporate decline after control passed out of the founding family. In January 2012, Hong Kong-based First Heritage Brands, part of Fung Brands, acquired 80 percent of the company, while the Rykiel family retained 20 percent and ownership of the brand's real estate. Nathalie Rykiel, who had become company president in 2007, sold the family's remaining stake in 2016 and left the board, ending the family's direct control of the house founded by Sonia Rykiel in 1968.
The subsequent restructuring exposed the vulnerability of an independent luxury label under investment ownership. The Sonia by Sonia Rykiel diffusion line was closed, lower-priced products were introduced into the main collection, and employees were laid off. After years described in the source as mismanagement by First Heritage Brands, the company liquidated its operations in mid-2019 when a Paris commercial court rejected the only remaining bidder, Lévy. The brand was later purchased by brothers Eric and Michael Dayan for a reported €10 million in late 2019, before G-III Apparel Group acquired it in 2021. The episode became a stark example of how a celebrated designer's family business could be transformed from a €75 million international fashion operation into a distressed asset after the founder's influence disappeared.
