How Le Slip Français will halve the price of its underwear

Make “made in France” accessible. Thirteen years after its creation, Le Slip Français is making its “revolution”. This strategic turning point is that of prices. Because if the French underwear brand has managed to find a place in the clothing industry, it is well aware that its prices remain an obstacle for the average French person. “We sell our underwear for 40 euros each, a consequence of our industrial production. But we are well aware that it is not the underwear of all French people, that it is reserved for a small part of the population,” recognizes Guillaume Gibault, founder and president of Slip Français.

Faced with this observation, the brand decided to slash its prices. This Wednesday, she is launching two new models for men, briefs and boxers, at a price that she considers more accessible, “and which will remain so in the long term,” she assures. Sold until now at around 40 euros, these underwear will cost 25 euros individually, 39 euros in a pack of two and 57 euros for a pack of three. That is to say a reduction in unit prices of 40%. “For packs of three, we are at 18 euros per unit, which means a division of the price by more than two,” underlines Guillaume Gibault.

No miracle recipe here, just a strategy summed up in one word: volume. “Usually, we commit volumes of 5,000 to 10,000 pieces per range. There, we placed an order for 400,000 pieces,” reports the boss of Slip Français. Or “a real industrial risk-taking”, because the investment concerns “several million euros of stocks”. But which allows it to crush its sales prices, thanks to the economies of scale allowed by this strategy.

Volume also means simplification of the production process. “We removed an embroidery operation, simplified the assembly, but without affecting the quality of the product,” assures Guillaume Gibault. At the same time, the offer offered by the brand will gradually be reduced. And why not, in the future, repeat this volume strategy on other products, such as socks or pajamas, if this first test is conclusive.

Such an initiative does not come out of nowhere. It comes in a tense context for “made in France” clothing, which is suffering from the crisis experienced by the sector in general, but also by the inflationary wave of 2022-2023. Especially since products made in France cost more on the shelves, because they are more expensive to produce. And if surveys show that the French are ready to buy more products made here, their prices remain a big obstacle. “Made in France, which already represents only 3% of the volumes of clothing put on the market each year in France, is threatened with reduction and why not, with disappearing,” warns Le Slip Français. Its initiative thus aims to “re-industrialize and find volumes that can breathe new life into the industry,” the company hopes.