Founder and president of ‘Le Slip Francais’ underwear model, Guillaume Gibault poses within the Bonne Nouvelle textile manufacturing unit in Aubervilliers, surburb of Paris, on February 12, 2025.
Thomas Samson | Afp | Getty Pictures
French underwear model Le Slip Français made its inventory market debut in Paris on Tuesday, betting that customers can pay for regionally made clothes amid competitors from ultra-cheap Chinese language fast-fashion giants like Shein and Temu.
The attire firm, based in 2011 by entrepreneur Guillaume Gibault to advertise textiles made in France, has since expanded past males’s underwear to incorporate ladies’s undergarments, T-shirts, socks, swimwear, and different clothes. It can IPO on the Euronext Development Paris alternate on Tuesday morning
“It was a wager 15 years in the past to show that it is really potential to fabricate clothes in France,” CEO Gibault instructed CNBC’s Charlotte Reed in an interview forward of the itemizing. “As we speak, the corporate is about to go public, so it is an incredible supply of pleasure and pleasure for us.”
The IPO comes after what Gibault described as a robust yr for the enterprise. Le Slip Français generated 21 million euros ($24.6 million) in income in 2025, alongside earnings earlier than curiosity, taxes, depreciation, and amortization of two.1 million euros and internet revenue of 700,000 euros, which he stated gave the corporate confidence to pursue a public itemizing.
Le Slip Français had a blended begin on the day of its debut, with shares briefly falling under their IPO worth of 14.80 euros, earlier than final buying and selling at 15 euros.
Taking up Shein and Temu
The French model is getting into the public market as fast-fashion giants proceed to place strain on attire manufacturers with ultra-low costs.
Gibault acknowledged that competing in opposition to platforms resembling Shein and Temu is difficult, however argued that world commerce uncertainty is encouraging manufacturers to maneuver textile manufacturing nearer to residence.
Based mostly on the IPO worth of 14.80 euros, the corporate was concentrating on a market capitalization of round 19 million euros forward of its IPO. In the meantime, Shein is predicted to probably IPO in September or October, concentrating on a valuation of $40 to $50 billion, in accordance with Reuters.
“Everyone knows that in each disaster there may be alternative,” he stated. “There’s momentum now for relocating textiles in France.”
Somewhat than counting on outsourced manufacturing, the corporate has invested in its personal manufacturing unit close to Paris, the place it now produces round 4,500 items of underwear a day.
Automation has helped scale back manufacturing prices, permitting the corporate to chop the retail worth of its underwear from round 40 euros to roughly 20 euros whereas sustaining profitability, in accordance with Gibault.
Le Slip Français additionally plans to broaden past its personal shopper model by manufacturing clothes for different firms in search of French manufacturing, a method it describes as “Made in France as a service.”
The corporate goals to double income by 2030 by means of a mixture of rising market share in males’s underwear and increasing its manufacturing enterprise.
Gibault stated the corporate at present holds round 4% of France’s males’s underwear market regardless of being acknowledged by roughly 60% of the French inhabitants, leaving room for development. He added that the corporate hopes to decrease costs additional over time by means of larger manufacturing effectivity.
Requested in regards to the challenges of constructing a enterprise in France, Gibault stated entrepreneurship has “at all times been tremendous robust,” however argued that enterprise leaders should proceed taking dangers whatever the political setting.
“We do not anticipate any assist. We simply work,” he stated, including that steady guidelines matter greater than authorities subsidies. “The time of politics is just not the time of entrepreneurship.”
As an alternative, he stated, the corporate’s future will depend on prospects who consider native manufacturing can compete on each high quality and worth — a perception Le Slip Français is now asking public traders to again as effectively.
