Many brands are bringing Made in France up to date photo credit: Shutterstock
“Today, more than 600 companies have received the Origine France Garantie certification for one of their products. In 2020, the number of certified product ranges is on the rise, registering an increase of 19%, ”explains Gilles Attaf, the label’s new boss. Man knows it. He has been involved in French manufacturing for many years as an entrepreneur (he is notably the founder of Belleville, the last French costume brand). Like him, a new generation of Made in France champions have chosen to capitalize on French know-how to reindustrialize their production in France.
Surfing on traditional skills
This is particularly the case with Payote. Noting that out of the six million pairs of espadrilles sold in France each year, only three million pairs are made in Europe, the young brand of espadrilles born in 2016 in Perpignan has given itself the mission of relocating manufacturing of a product which constitutes a French know-how, with a breath of modernity on the design and an eco-responsible approach.
Traditional hatmaking launches into the cap
More original, the luxury cap brand Headoniste took advantage of the traditional know-how of French hat making to create the first 100% made in France baseball caps. Cutting and assembly are carried out by hand in Bernay, in a Normandy workshop specializing in ceremonial headdresses for the French army and airlines. A manufacturing of excellence that Véronique Boute, its founder, has been able to take advantage of to bring caps out of the world of sportswear to make them a luxury product, which can now be worn on the beach as well as in the office associated with a costume or in addition to formal attire.
To go to the end of the process, Véronique Boute, sources all her raw materials in France: the jacquard fabrics come from Deveaux, the woven labels from Neyret in Saint-Étienne, the thermocollants from Picardy. The result is up to the task! Its high-end caps are now sold in very sophisticated concept stores, the Palaces of Courchevel and the Côte d’Azur, and are very successful abroad, particularly in Korea.
Reinventing an industrial history
To relaunch, some brands are capitalizing on a rich industrial history. The story of Kiplay begins in the small town of Saint-Pierre-d’Entremont in Normandy. Marcel Letard, son of a manufacturer of galoshes (shoes with leather tops and wooden soles) meets Émilie Degasne, daughter of a fabric merchant and clothing maker … it’s love at first sight and the start of a great adventure entrepreneurial. In 1921, the couple got married and gave birth to the Kiplay brand (a play on words “which pleases” found by Marcel who firmly believes in advertising). In 2016 and four generations later, Marc Pradal’s 3 children, Clément, Gérault and Romane, joined the family business, reorganized the Saint-Pierre-d’Entremont workshop and launched in 2017 the first Kiplay Vintage collection inspired by 1950s and the workwear universe. Since then, a collection has been created every year. The manufacturer based in Orne thus increased its production by 60% in 2019.
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