Fashion: the chic and urban Renaissance of Fusalp

Il fallait être un peu visionnaire pour racheter une marque de vêtements de ski en plein réchauffement climatique ! Une marque certes française, certes historique – puisque née en 1952 -, certes emblématique – elle a inventé la première combinaison de ski en 1966 -, mais une marque qui avait peu à peu dévissé depuis son dépôt de bilan en 1984. Reprise, déprise, Fusalp (contraction de « Fu- seau des Alpes») avait fini par tomber dans les oubliettes de la mode d’où l’a sortie un trio d’investisseurs venus du monde du… tennis. C’est Alexandre Fauvet qui, après de longues années passées chez la marque au crocodile, a convaincu le frère et la sœur Philippe et Sophie Lacoste de se lancer dans l’aventure.Mode : la renaissance chic et urbaine de Fusalp Mode : la renaissance chic et urbaine de Fusalp

"They sought to invest in an area of knowledge, that is to say a brand of sport, textiles, with a heritage spirit.Fusalp fell on.We have taken over the entire business seven years ago.Philippe Lacoste is the president and I am the managing director of it.Mathilde, the wife of Philippe Lacoste, took the artistic direction in 2015, juggling between the technicality of the ski clothing and the French Touch Mode side.The temptation to merge Sport and City has always tickled the founders of the brand, the tailors Georges Ribola and René Veyrat.Avant-garde, they even imagined in 1970 drawing a ready-to-wear from the ski clothing.

From the start, this duo also puts on tips readjusted to sport such as smocks (these fashion embroidered on dresses) as a windbreaker and to give ease to a mountain piece at a time when theStretch does not exist yet.We find him in the blink of an eye on the Montana "smocked" jacket exhibited on the slopes two years ago by Emmanuel Macron.They then adopted the first stretch nylon Dupont de Nemours created for the army.

"Sport puts technicality forward while fashion is often late on textile technical revolutions or ecological and recycled materials.Let's not talk about so -called intelligent fabrics like those that allow thermoregulation.However, the primary principle of a garment is to protect the body, accompany the movement and bring it great comfort.Our idea is really to reinvent a wardrobe in line with our ways of living, ”explains Alexandre Fauvet.

Mode : la renaissance chic et urbaine de Fusalp

This intuition is today the happiness of urban people in two-wheelers, among the first to adopt this hybrid, easy-to-live and protective locker room.Today, the company has 160 employees, including 68 in Annecy, and six distribution subsidiaries abroad.With a turnover of 30 million euros (in 2020), the brand now covers 22 countries thanks to a network of 50 shops, including 12 in Paris and, more surprising, in Marseille, Nice, Deauville and Aix-in Provence.The Biarritz store, neighbor of Hermès, is displayed as one of the most efficient outlets.

Abroad, Fusalp is a hit in Scandinavia, where the alpine ski market is as dynamic as competitive.In Switzerland, six points of sale are located in the most beautiful winter sports stations, including Gstaad.As for the London store, inaugurated last year, it has just exceeded its objectives in just four months according to the Director General, despite the restrictions due to the COVVI-19.The company now plans to put pressure in China with three shops, the last of which will be inaugurated in Beijing for the 24th Winter Olympic Games of 2022."It is a fairly dynamic development market, because the Chinese discover the joys of snow.In fact, we hope that China will be the market of the future, as Japan has been able to be at one time, "analyzes Alexandre Fauvet.

Support of future champions

Success is real, as evidenced by the recent hiring of 25 people.The traveled path owes a lot to the existing at the time of the takeover by Philippe and Sophie Lacoste: in particular the Annecy workshop, which still employed 30 people and which has become a prototyping workshop.This intact know-how is added to the RAM of Ingrid Büchner, Fusalp stylist in the 1960s, whose memories fuel current collections.Or these champions, former multimedailed ambassadors on the most beautiful podiums of world ski events, which have become a mine of information: Léo Lacroix, Marielle Goitschel, Guy Périllat or even Jean-Claude Killy lent to Fusalp todayTheir famous combis developed in breaths… automobiles!

Today, ambassadors are called Claudia Riegler-Dénériaz and Antoine Dénériaz.They are the mentors of the Young Talents program that accompanies the athletes and the hopes of skiing - Marie Bochet, the most titled athlete in the history of the Paralympic Games, the promising Mathieu Faivre and Sacha Theocharis, as well as the baby Norwegian champion of Alpine Alpine skiingKaspar Kindem, who always wears the Fusalp jacket… of his grandfather!

Ever more innovative materials

In the world of skiing, materials remain the nerve of war.Fusalp uses, for example, corn or downward down, as well as softshell.Thick and laminated, soft to the touch, stretch, nothing rubbery, it is used for the manufacture of spindle pants.Similarly, the waterproof and breathable wools developed with suppliers and doped by Jerus -developed membranes (developed internally) are tested in water columns to establish their level of resistance.Alexandre Fauvet equipped the company with a textile engineering laboratory (five engineers) responsible for innovating in the Alpine field.

"We have just filed a technical patent which takes up the spirit of double glazing in the form of several materials associated with each other, always finer and efficient.Lightness is very difficult to obtain.We have to industrialize this process but it takes time.In the meantime, we wait with the cozy whistler jacket wrapped in soft and warm faux fur, diverted from the tracks by bikers!

Another bestseller, the spectrum jacket, including the light protective membrane in stretch fabric offers as little thickness as possible to allow (hot) air to circulate.For those who would always shift, we draw from the side of the future Hockley with its small internal radiator activated thanks to a battery fitted with a simple button.An expensive zest, Fusalp products are really well designed, attractive and are not of the kind disposable.Better to prepare for it: in the wardrobe, they will one day celebrate their 30th anniversary!


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