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French Work Wear is fashion !
by Modem – Posted June 15 2021
© Modem

Work garments, that originated in France, are in fashion. Besides the young brands who produce them today, manufacturers who have historically produced work clothes are successfully reinterpreting their models for the general public. explains Frédéric Martin-Bernard, who conducted this inquiry for Promas List.

To follow the comments collected by Frédéric Martin-Bernard to the founders of these young French brands: Tonton & Fils, Le Mont Saint Michel, Lafont 1884, Kiplay Vintage, Fleurs de Bagne, Kidur.



On Instagram, the hashtag #frenchworkwear has over 43,000 illustrated citations. Though this may be lower than #frenchwines, #frenchmanicure, #frenchfries or even #frenchkiss, the universe of blue French-style workwear is far ahead of its American cousin, #americanworkwear, that has barely attained a thousand illustrated citations. This is normal since work clothing, which originated in France, has been in fashion for a number of years. It began by appealing to a few hipsters but with recent events in the past seasons including a reassessment of the market and pandemics, a broader, more international public now wants to have these garments as sure values..

TONTON & FILS

American workwear has not changed”, observes Pierre-Yves Oriol, long a fan of this subject who left the advertising world to launch the Tonton & Filslabel in 2016 that specializes in reinterpreting workwear outfits. “In the United States, the same brands and key products have been trendy for decades”, continues this self-taught expert, “while in France, professional workwear that a few people discovered in flea markets or reworked from their initial context for everyday pieces has become a real ready-to-wear sector after some labels reinterpreted key pieces like the worker’s jacket, carpenter’s pants or overalls.”


LE MONT SAINT MICHEL

Like Le Mont Saint Michel, a company often associated with the sailor sweater. This Normandy-based company actually began making workwear garments in 1913. Alexandre Milan, the owner since 1998, didn’t immediately capitalize on the company’s past. “At the beginning of the 2010 decade, we understood that a fringe group of our clients might be interested in French-style workwear”, recalls this descendent of a hosiery-manufacturing family which bought the company. “We sensed that people were tired of trends that change faster and faster. They now want long-lasting, essential, time-honored pieces; beautiful classics that have a presence, a character and a history …” Cutting-edge designers like Raf Simons, Junya Watanabe, Dries Van Noten, Lucas Ossendrijver, Kris Van Assche or Demna Gvasalia, head of the Vetements collective, also sought out professional clothing as they designed their collections. They wanted to amplify this overall desire for sober outfits with sturdy volumes and finishes.

FLEURS DE BAGNE

Beginning in 2009, the new French brand Bleu de Chauffe contributed to the phenomenon with leathergoods collections inspired by traditional tradesmen’s bags. And in 2012 Michaël Dumas, known as Mika, created Fleurs de Bagne in Aix-en-Provence. Though the label may not sound masculine, it actually refers to the tattoos that criminals got while they were in prison. This virile collection in robust materials is produced in different regions of France in various workshops that specialize in the precise technicity needed for many of these products because work garments and accessories require manufacturing skills different from those used in ready-to-wear.

LAFONT

Workwear is a separate world with its own codes and skills”, confirms Nicolas Sandjian, director of the Cepovett group that in 2016 bought the well-known Lafont brand a specialist in professional outfits. “We have an obligation to produce good results using production standards that don’t exist in fashion. Our products clothe and protect people so they must meet certain requirements with higher standards than for traditional manufacturing. When we answer a tender offer, we commit to producing the same, identical article for 3 to 5 years. These items must be sturdy since they are allocated to personnel in strict annual quantities. In other words, a work garment must not rip after two months in whatever context it is used.” Since this demand for extreme quality has often been paired with the systematic competitiveness of each new tender offer, most French professional-garment experts were obliged to export their production in the 1970’s.

KIPLAY

Our company almost closed in the 1980’s because we didn’t want to move our factory”, remembers Marc Pradal, director of the family-owned Kiplay company that was founded a hundred years ago. He is also the former president of the Union française des industries de la mode et de l’habillement (French Union of Fashion and Clothing Industries). “Before, there were many large companies in France that employed hundreds of people. But these numbers eventually collapsed. In 2016, we created the Kiplay Vintage line and relaunched a French production. Our annual collection is inspired by our archives … The key idea is not to follow typical fashion cycles.


Nicolas Sandjian insists that the objective is not to alter Lafont’s workwear mood though the company did ask Louis-Marie de Castelbajac to design a trendier collection in 2019. “This exercise was imagined as a laboratory at a time when workwear garments were coming back into fashion. The idea was to rework classics like our overalls that had already had their hour of glory thanks to Coluche or Sophie Marceau in the 1980’s. But above all, we wanted to use this research & development done with Louis-Marie to help evolve our permanent lines.” Unfortunately, this leader of professional garments no longer produces in France - or even Europe. As for Le Mont Saint Michel, they do manufacture on the Old Continent. “We had to make compromises to remain competitive”, justifies Alexandre Milan who is able to highlight Made in France weaving in the brand’s work jacket, a best-seller. Thanks to a flat collar, topstitched closure with large buttons in natural corozo and three patch bellows pockets, this original model was re-introduced in 2013, exactly a hundred years after the Normandy company was founded. Since then, it has been developed in many colors: kraft, brick, khaki, old rose, lemon yellow, sky blue … using a secret procedure that adds character and a lovely patina to the cotton moleskin.


KIDUR

Another success for a number of seasons: the comeback of the Kidur brand, a trademark registered in 1935 with the slogan “a man’s wardrobe for both factory and field workers”. This label, whose name evokes resistance and quality, was mothballed in the 1980’s. However, the skills of the Confection Des Deux-Sevres company, also known as C2S, was neither forgotten nor lost, it continued to manufacture for collectives. “Kidur is a factory brand whose main activity is not fashion. Our key specialty is workwear garments”, insists Alexandre Clary who bought Kidur in 2018 after having moved up through the company ranks. “I felt that we were returning to more authentic, practical, functional garments,” continues Clary who also had the great idea to call upon Gauthier Borsarello, a vintage specialist, to fine-tune the company’s ready-to-wear proposal. “We don’t want to bring back identical models”, insists the young entrepreneur. “We rework models from the archives in a contemporary mood while preserving our unique skills and manufacturing quality. Absolutely every product with the Kidur label is made in our La Plainelière site in Courlay in the Vendée region.” To maintain affordable prices even though the pieces are Made in France, Kidur relaunched itself on Internet and now sells its clothes directly to consumers to limit middle-men or higher coefficients. A new step for 2021: the line is now sold in multi-brand boutiques for whom a special collection is in work for Spring-Summer 2022.


Comments collected by Frédéric Martin-Bernard for PromasList

© Modem