A great performance for this factory with nine employees, proud of its artisanal manufacturing method. LBF is now recognized internationally, and firmly established in Ovalie (1), to the great pleasure of Thibaut Lamy, the local production director.
Enough to encourage him to rest his laurels? No. Because the brand has just resurrected the legendary Bayonne Manufacture of Basque Berets (MBBB), founded around 1910. This house, formerly located in Saint-Esprit, rue Brigadier-Muscar, disappeared in the 1950s… before resurfacing in the favor of a meeting between representatives of LBF and a local hat maker.
The employees of the French Beret are the guarantors of ancient know-how.
Bertrand Lapègue
The first named have thus collected more than 40,000 embroidered badges, which they will have sewn onto the berets. To better understand the forgotten history of this factory, LBF also contacted the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Basque Museum and the departmental archives, before taking over the business.
Cultural heritage
The French Beret now intends to “combine heritage and modernity” by exploiting this Basque cultural heritage (2). “We have also found the supplier of the badges, which will allow us to redo them once the stock is gone,” announces Nathalie de Mauduit, the director of LBF. The latter speaks of a “real vintage treasure” and says she is proud to anchor LBF a little more in her territory, thanks to this new adventure.
Bertrand Lapègue
The artisanal know-how of the French Beret does not prevent the company from releasing tricolor berets, like those for the Rugby World Cup here.
Already a partner of Katxi klothing and the Basque Museum boutique, this new brand “is very successful with points of sale in the Basque Country”. And as projects are in LBF's DNA, let's finally note that the brand now sells… hats. Not just any berets, of course, since beret manufacturers have just bought Le Bonnet français, which has the same acronym as Le Beret français. “We have the means and the tools to develop this brand. »
(1) LBF has developed a partnership with the FFR and the Nouvelle-Aquitaine league.
(2) The BF company has been awarded the EPV label, as a Living Heritage Company.
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