A Breton company is entering the luxury paper bag market.
All the production of these “shopping bags” is currently carried out in China or Turkey.
With his brand Les Ateliers du Sac, Cyril-Alexandre Blanc hopes to seduce brands that are increasingly concerned about their ecological footprint.
In another life, he worked in the dog food business at Friskies, toilet paper at Renova and video games at THQ Inc., where he was the general manager in France.
A jack-of-all-trades entrepreneur, Cyril-Alexandre Blanc is now evolving at the age of 49 in the world of graphic arts.
In 2016, this Parisian by birth bought the company Ateliers Agis based in Noyal-sur-Vilaine, east of Rennes.
For thirty-five years, this SME with around forty employees, which also has a production workshop in La Chapelle-sur-Erdre near Nantes, has specialized in the embellishment, cutting and binding of paper, working almost exclusively for printers.
But times have changed for the company which, in a printing sector in the midst of a crisis and undergoing profound change, has seen its activity drop significantly in recent years.
To revive business, the leader therefore had no choice but to imagine “a new growth driver” for his company.
And it is in luxury, a sector that has not experienced the crisis, that Cyril-Alexandre Blanc has decided to launch with Les Ateliers du Sac.
Made in Brittany to compete with China and Turkey
Since December, the SME has been producing high-end paper bags, luxury “shopping bags” that customers like to show off when leaving the store.
“It's a beautiful product that you don't want to throw away,” emphasizes Cyril-Alexandre Blanc.
After a study of the market, the latter realized that no one was producing it in France.
“Everything is made in China, Turkey and a little in Eastern countries,” he says.
While luxury brands are beginning to worry about their ecological footprint, the entrepreneur has therefore sniffed out the right vein by relocating the production of these bags to France.
If the paper is purchased in Spain and the lamination carried out in Italy or Spain, all the rest of the manufacturing is "100% made in Brittany", assures the entrepreneur, who works in particular with Esat Bretagne Ateliers, disabled workers taking care of laying the cotton cords on the bags.
A target of one million bags produced by the end of the summer
If the activity is just starting, the company, which has benefited from aid within the framework of the France Relance plan, has already won over some prestigious clients such as the Barnes real estate agency, the Tempka jewelry or watch brand or certain opticians. of the Krys network.
And this is just the beginning for the entrepreneur who expects to produce "one million bags by the end of August and five million bags within a year and a half" and is already planning to launch internationally. .
To expand the customer base, an online store should also be launched very soon with a range of five customizable paper bags that will be offered to merchants.
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