Valeurs Actuelles - Olympic Games 2024: The French beret as official supplier, an inseparable part of national savoir-vivre
Having already taken part in the Rugby World Cup in 2023, the Bayonne-based company has been selected as one of the official suppliers to the Olympic Games. A way of carrying the Olympic flame of national production.
"Our DNA is to share our know-how", admits Nathalie de Mauduit, director of Béret Français, as the children from a local elementary school have just left the company, after an eventful and noisy visit. In a few months' time, this company, which came into being in 2012 (and began production a year later while the wool knitting machines were purchased and perfected), thanks to Rodolphe Grosset's firm commitment to promoting made in France, will be sharing this DNA on another scale, this time a global one. Le Béret français is one of the official suppliers to the 2024 Olympic Games.
It's quite a challenge for this Bayonne-based SME, but one which it feels perfectly capable of meeting, as it's not the first time it's been selected for a major event of worldwide renown: "The organizers of the 2023 Rugby World Cup came to us with an offer to partner the event," recalls Nathalie de Mauduit, director of Le Béret français. For the French Rugby Federation, with whom we signed an official two-year license, we created a special product, with a color, the blue of France. Because we felt capable of meeting the Olympic challenge, we responded to the call for tenders launched by the Games." The company also recalls that, during the health crisis, it was able to respond at short notice to a large order for masks from Bayonne town hall, even if this meant starting early in the morning, finishing late at night and working at weekends.
Today, there are only three manufacturers left in France.
This will fill the company's order book with tens of thousands of additional berets. That said, Béret Français was already experiencing exponential growth, as in recent years the beret, a product charged with affection, has been making a resounding comeback, from Taiwan to the USA. In France, its production had suffered with the end of military service and the decline in the number of farmers: "It was the headgear of the agricultural world", recalls the director of Béret Français. But the beret has also become much more feminine, with new colors, and has become a practical fashion accessory inseparable from French savoir-vivre. Today, only three manufacturers remain in France.
Production (100% pure wool) is local and artisanal (even if it has become mechanized thanks to knitting machines), taking at least five days per beret: "It's complex: between the different stages, knitting, checking, felting, shaping, checking the cabillou, drying and shaving, it takes a week to make a beret", calculates Nathalie de Mauduit. The result is a wide range of models available in 24 colors (the wool is dyed, not the beret, as is the case with models from abroad), priced from 30 euros to 47 euros for the premium version, and in particular the Béret Mode, with its red cabillou. The special Olympic Games versions (I love Paris 2024 and one with the Paris 2024 mascot) will be offered at an average price of 35 euros. With just 100 days to go until the Olympic Games, it's going to be a busy few weeks.
By Frédéric Paya
Published April 17, 2024 at 12:00 Updated April 16, 2024 at 16:49