The brand, which is struggling to meet demand, is installing new machines in its Savoyard factory.
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More than a century after its beginnings, in 1890, in Savoie, the Opinel brand has just opened a new small shop in Annecy, where buyers flock to number, this Saturday of early September. The knives with the blade engraved with the crowned hand – notably symbolizing the ancient duchy of Savoy – sell there like hotcakes.
“Our brand has been growing strong for fifteen years and, so far, we were able to follow, says Luc Simon, Deputy Managing Director of the company. But there has been a big acceleration for two years , supported in particular by the craze for hiking or for table knives. “
The request is such as in Chambéry, where the manufacturing plant is located, or in Annecy certain stores of the shops are empty. As for the brand’s website, it displays many items unavailable. “We check all the boxes of the main trends in consumption, justifies Françoise Detroyat, the Marketing Director. They are Made in France products, and they are durable, robust.”
seen abroad
If “the French market continues today to develop well”, the brand, which aims for the 33 million euros in turnover in 2022, has views on the foreigner. Already distributed in the United States and Germany, the Opinel brand wants to extend to the rest of Europe, but also in Asia. It is out of the question to consider multiplying the places of production. The company has “no interest”, considers Françoise Detroyat.
“Our priority is sustainability more than absolute growth,” abounds Luc Simon. “The will of the Opinel family is to continue to make everything in Chambéry,” adds M me deTroyat, since the Opinel knife has become “an ambassador of Savoy all over the world”. “Especially since we are extremely efficient thanks to industrial mechanization and automation”, specifies the marketing director.
In Chambéry, new machines are being installed in the factory to cope with the demand. And management is looking for the company to become “more attractive as a recruiter”. Increase in wages and possibility of telework are thus already planned. In fifteen years, the company, which today has 160 employees, has doubled its workforce.