Jourdan to focus on the making of luxury shoes. (Charles Jourdan)

Jourdan to focus on the making of luxury shoes

PARIS -- Charles Jourdan did not have a very good year in 1988, its chairman Fritz Ammann freely admits.

Like many luxury goods companies in France, it devoted a lot of energy this decade to diversification. However, what Jourdan sowed there did not exactly blossom.

At the same time, its existing business began to wither, explained Ammann, who was appointed to his position in February with the goal of turning the company around. "The strategy of diversifying too widely in our stores was a basic mistake," Ammann conceded in an interview in the elegant palais that houses Jourdan's headquarters on the banks of the Seine across from the Eiffel Tower. …