Guillaume Gibault, a young entrepreneur who had just graduated from HEC, launched a crazy bet in 2011: that of producing underwear in France, at a cost 3 to 4 times higher than the market. Six years later, his company demonstrates that "made in France" is profitable. On the occasion of the Impulsion Business festival in Caen, on October 18th and 19th, he gives his analysis of this success.
The idea is simple and beautiful: to produce in France briefs, then other underwear and clothing for men and women. But in 2011, it is not obvious. French textile production languishes in silence.
" It's true, we're a little precursors, " says Guillaume Gibault. " We arrived six months before everyone else. I was looking for a good idea to create a business, an idea with meaning. I am sensitive to brands whose DNA is very French, like Lacoste, Petit Bateau, and I realized that French manufacturing was a strong value.
The made in France, a fight
A choice that is quickly decisive: in 2012, Arnaud Montebourg poses in one of the Parisien Magazine in his sailor Armor Lux and made "made in France" the workhorse of his Ministry of Productive Recovery. The stake is democratized. " There is a fundamental trend that has been going on since, it's clear, " says Guillaume Gibault.
Another winning insight of the entrepreneur: the men's fashion develops and evolves. " The men's fashion market has changed over the last ten years, we are now in a more global approach " that benefits the company. An analysis that the entrepreneur will develop at the Entrepreneurs Festival, Impulsion business, on October 18th and 19th.
The ideal product, the one that sells on the Internet
However, the success of the French Brief is first to have created the ideal product. A beautiful product, well designed and made with quality materials, " a product that we want to buy and re-buy ". And even to offer: the brand makes 40% of its annual turnover in November and December.
The ideal product is also one that can be sold easily on the Internet. " A slip is small, light, and, as far as men are concerned, it does not try. It's the ideal product on the Internet, "explains Guillaume Gibault. Because the secret of the French Slip is there: reduce costs by selling directly through the online store (70% of turnover). " We have taken the turn of the web distribution, a real disruption in a market of traditional actors ."
Enthusiasm and optimism are in order
The team of 50 Parisian employees, with an average age of 27 years, was able to fully exploit the levers of webmarketing and social networks, very followed (nearly 250,000 fans on Facebook). She has developed a real web culture, often funny and impertinent, always direct and spontaneous.
A good mood and enthusiasm deemed essential by the boss, in a difficult sector, made up of small fragile workshops. " There is a huge wave of substance in the textile industry in France, " says Guillaume Gibault. " In the 1970s, there were 460,000 textile jobs in France, in 2012 there were only 58,000. " In this context, "to arrive with freshness, youth, energy is essential. We pass on our good mood to the partner factories, and in the end, it is also the customer feels .
This is also the message he will convey to Impulse Business entrepreneurs: " Never give up. Everything is possible, at worst we crash and it does not matter .