• The L'Esprit des forts brand has just launched a range of elegant marcels that may well change the minds of those who are resistant to this historic garment.

  • "We all have in mind old photos of people in marcel, on bicycles or at the beach, during the boom in paid vacation," says Arnaud Esclangon, the creator of this line.

    This garment is linked to a feeling of freedom.

    "

  • To break its old-fashioned image, entrepreneur Arnaud Esclangon wanted to move it upmarket: its line is knitted, made in France and eco-responsible.

Definitely, clothes and accessories that we thought were old-fashioned could well have the wind in their sails. After the success of Ringart's bobs and Payote espadrilles, in Perpignan (Pyrénées-Orientales), another company from Occitanie has taken on the challenge of bringing a worn-out garment up to date: the marcel. The brand from Montpellier (Hérault) The spirit of the forts has just launched a range of elegant tank tops which could well change the opinion of the refractory.

Before this challenge, Arnaud Esclangon, its creator, worked for twenty years at Sanofi.

"It's a very good company, which allowed me to flourish," says the Montpellier entrepreneur.

But I had done the tour.

In a multinational, we are a link in the chain.

I wanted to do something that had a little more direct impact on things in life.

"To support him in his change of life, Arnaud Esclangon wanted to breathe new life into a" historic garment ", a heritage of" French culture and savoir-vivre ", the Marcel.

"We all have in mind old photos of people in marcel, on bicycles or at the beach, during the boom in paid vacation," he says.

This garment is linked to a feeling of freedom.

"

"Upgrade this garment"

The name of his brand, The spirit of the forts, moreover refers to the forts of Les Halles, in 19th century Paris, which wore longshoremen. These handlers with protruding muscles, whose corporation disappeared in the 1960s, transported foodstuffs sold in the old market in the center of the capital. “History says that one day, one of these forts cut off the sleeves of its top,” says Arnaud Esclangon. It became the first prototype of Marcel. An industrialist, Marcel Eisenberg, the first to launch into its clothing industry, gave it his first name.

But if, since, it has been popularized by Freddy Mercury, Marlon Brando, or Bruce Willis, the marcel has also suffered from the image of the beauf in a tank top. “When we did market research, before launching the brand, people told us that this garment had a somewhat dated, out-of-date image,” says the entrepreneur. What we have done is to upgrade this garment, by making it more elegant. First, the jacket from L'prit des forts is knitted, and the armholes and neckline are ribbed, which takes it away from the tank top model Grandpa wore at the factory.

In addition, Arnaud Esclangon has chosen to use monofiber, natural and biodegradable merino wool, and recycled denim cotton.

"Our eco-responsible commitments bring the Marcel into the future, it modernizes it", he confides.

And you don't have to be built like John Mc Clane in

Crystal Trap

to wear a tank top.

"What we have tried to do is to offer a size that is not too slim, a little more fitted", confides the Montpellier, even if, he agrees, "it is not a garment for everyone. neither world ”.

The spirit of the forts marcels, made in the Tarn, are offered from 65 euros on the brand's shop.

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