A Lafuma windbreaker with its hood stowed.

Lafuma is a French company that specializes in outdoor equipment and clothing, such as backpacks, sleeping bags and footwear. It also offers a wide variety of other equipment, earning comparisons to United States companies such as Patagonia and Columbia Sportswear. Group brands include Eider, Millet and Oxbow. The Lafuma clothing brands have been personified by sports personalities and by the French actor and stuntman Karl E. Landler.

History

The three Lafuma brothers – Victor, Alfred and Gabriel – founded Lafuma in 1930 producing backpacks. In 1936, the company invented the metal-frame braced backpack, which expanded the group considerably. Having produced products for both the French Army before World War II and during the occupation of France by Nazi Germany for the Wehrmacht, the company resumed production post-war. In 1954, Lafuma expanded into camping furniture.

In 1984, the company went bankrupt, and was taken over by a grandson of the founders, Philippe Joffard. In 1985, the company expanded into sleeping bags and, in 1986, moved part of its production to Tunisia. In 1991, the company launched new clothing brands and, in 1992, opened production facilities in Hungary.[1][2] This allowed the resumption of the production of the Millet and Le Chameau brands in 1995.[3]

The company was launched on the CAC Small second market in 1997, reducing the founding families' share to around a 15% share holding. Philippe Joffard remains chairman.

In 2004, the company purchased the jeans brand Ober[4] and, in 2005, Oxbow.[5] In 2006, the company began co-branding winter clothing with Thierry Mugler.[6] After a difficult year in 2007, Lafuma resumed production of the Eider brand, but by moving production from Éloise to overseas facilities.[7]

In 2012, Le Chameau was sold to Marwyn Management Partners, a UK-based private equity company.[8]

Current

The group is still highly reliant on the domestic French market, with 60% of group turnover generated from French sales. The current[when?] brands of the group include (with reported sales percentages):[9]

Detailed figures for the licensing of the Killy trademark are not published. Turnover by product is broken down as:[9]

  • Clothing (62.5%)
  • Accessories and equipment (12%) including: backpacks, sleeping bags, blankets, billfolds, mountaineering ropes, strollers
  • Shoes and boots (13.1%)
  • Camping furniture (12.4%) including: folding chairs, chairs, tables

The group has eight production sites, in: France (4), Hungary (1), Tunisia (1), Morocco (1) and China (1).[9]

References

  1. ^ à 00h00, Par Aline Gérard Le 22 mai 2001 (21 May 2001). "Après la Hongrie, Lafuma lorgne sur la Roumanie". leparisien.fr (in French). Retrieved 14 March 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ "Léger recul du résultat de Lafuma". Les Echos (in French). 21 January 1993. Archived from the original on 30 March 2023. Retrieved 14 March 2025.
  3. ^ Vercesi, Patrick (3 May 1995). "Lafuma rachète la société Bottes Le Chameau". Les Echos.
  4. ^ conso, L. S. A. (4 March 2004). "Le groupe Lafuma rachète Ober" (in French). {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  5. ^ "Lafuma a réussi à relancer les ventes d'Oxbow". Les Echos. 7 June 2006.
  6. ^ FR, FashionNetwork com (8 January 2007). "Thierry Mugler entre en pistes avec Lafuma". FashionNetwork.com (in French). Retrieved 14 March 2025.
  7. ^ Nouvelle, L'Usine (1 July 2008). "Lafuma ferme le site Eider d'Eloise" (in French). {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  8. ^ Katherine Rushton (2 October 2012). "Le Chameau Wellington maker sold to Marwyn Management Partners". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
  9. ^ a b c "Groupe Lafuma". Groupe Lafuma. Archived from the original on 17 June 2012. Retrieved 25 February 2012.
Allikas: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lafuma
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