April 2024. The company Le Slip français is in difficulty. Who would have imagined that this brand with its insolent success, launched in 2011 by an HEC graduate, which in the space of a few years had become a symbol of the revival of Made in France, was going through a difficult time? The road seemed clear for this company which grew at breakneck speed, going from €40,000 in turnover at its creation, to €20 million in 2018.
Yes, but since 2021, the group has seen its turnover decline by 10% each year. Profitability is fragile and cash flow is limited. “Last March, we were not sure of being able to pay our employees”assures founder Guillaume Gibault today. The fault lies in a degraded economic context with customers less inclined to pay for briefs or boxers between €35 and €45 each.
“We have moved into a very rational economy where consumers, even those who have the means, buy less to please themselvesobserves Gildas Minvielle, director of the Economic Observatory of the French Fashion Institute. Furthermore, even if this does not concern underwear, the development of second-hand goods has contributed to blurring the perception of the price of clothing. »
A strategy error
But by Guillaume Gibault's own admission, the economic context is not the only one responsible. The brand has in fact missed its strategic shift taken in 2021: the visual identity has been redefined, exit the logo with briefs surrounded by blue white red, and the range of clothing offered has continued to expand, at the risk of losing the consumer.
To regain market share, Guillaume Gibault and his teams therefore decided to make a 180-degree turnaround by reducing the collection and massaging production in order to lower the selling price. The company is thus launching the production of 400,000 briefs and boxers, ten times more than its usual volumes. At €25 each, they must all be sold by the end of the year. “It makes it or it breaks”then summarizes the entrepreneur.
A turnover that exceeds 20 million euros
To win this bet, the brand uses the recipes that have made its success by notably highlighting “French know-how”, synonymous with quality – even at reduced prices, assures the founder. On December 31, Guillaume Gibault announced that he had sold 400,000 pieces of underwear. Bet won. “We closed the year 2024 with more than 20 million euros in turnover, an increase of 7%”, welcomes the founder on the eve of the opening of the winter sales this Wednesday, January 8.
In addition to economies of scale, to lower production costs the brand has focused on simplified manufacturing. “The pattern has been slightly revised to save time in assembling the product. And the cockade that was embroidered on the underwear is now woven into the belt. explains Guillaume Gibault. We also worked on logistics to optimize the shipping of packages. »
To be able to produce such a quantity, Le Slip français collaborated with eight partners and above all opened, with four partners, its own factory, equipped with machines – to install the waistband of the underwear –, in which employees are 35 people.
Cut in staff
This relaunch nevertheless came at the cost of significant sacrifices: of the twenty stores, fourteen were closed, the company's workforce was halved, going from 120 employees in 2022 to around sixty today.
This strategy of massification and low prices could shake up the Made in France ecosystem. Especially since Le Slip français does not intend to stop there. He now plans to sell a million pieces of underwear and aims to almost double his workforce in his factory by the end of 2025. In March, he will develop this new approach, notably with T-shirts.
For Julia Faure, co-president of the Impact France movement and co-founder of the Loom brand, the success of French Slip is good news. “If Le Slip français, which perfectly masters communication, had not succeeded in redressing the situation, it would have been very worrying, she notices. Our sector, already fragile, is being disrupted by the crisis: workshops are closing in silence.” And the entrepreneur added: “ Massifying production is a strategy of resistance. If we lose what remains of the textile industry, it will be very difficult to relaunch a sector in France.”
