Petit Bateau: the boat that rocked When its children's T-shirts proved so tempting that even grown-ups couldn't resist donning them, Petit Bateau began expanding into the adult clothing market. Now, 120 years after launching, the French brand is pushing its design boundaries. The Petit Bateau stripe. Is there a more iconic badge of chic childrenswear? It's just so French. French children, we are assured, don't throw food, and their sophisticated mamans wouldn't let them be seen in anything but the most stylish of clothes. Petit Bateau is as significant in the lives of France's little ones as Marks & Spencer is in those of their British counterparts, and it has been that way for over a century. In fact the 'little boat' brand is 120 years old this year, and changes are afoot for the company. In May the quiet town of Troyes on the edge of the Champagne region, the birthplace of Petit Bateau and still the home of its factory, was taken over by an exhibition depicting members of the factory's staff at work. Oversized images were displayed as stationary flags throughout the town centre and even on sturdy poles planted in the middle of the Seine, which runs through the town. It was a celebration of the unseen faces behind a brand that is now known all over the world. 'We really wanted to pay tribute to them,' Patrick Pergament, Petit Bateau's CEO, says. We wanted to show there are real people behind the machines, people with a sense of humour, with joy, with their own lives. A image from the exhibition held to celebrate Petit Bateau's 120th anniversary. Photo: Stéphane Remael. It is on the commitment to quality and tradition of these people that the brand's success is built. Petit Bateau employs about 4,000 people, almost half of which are in France; 1,000 of those work at the factory in Troyes - a centre for the European textile industry for more than seven centuries. The factory is an integral part of this town. It has provided jobs for generations of families since its doors were first opened in 1893 by the founder, Pierre Valton, the man who developed underwear as we know it by chopping the legs offold-style children's long johns to create the 'petite culotte'. Expansion into outerwear for children and babies followed. Some of the current staffhave been working at the factory for more than 40 years, busily making the four million T-shirts and 17 million undergarments sold each year. Unbelievably in this age of outsourcing and subcontracting, and despite the fact that the brand was bought by the Yves Rocher Group in 1988, 90 per cent of Petit Bateau's products are still made in Troyes. Primark could learn a thing or two. The remaining 10 per cent - socks, leggings, jeans - are manufactured in Morocco and Tunisia, but the same long-established expertise and processes are duplicated at these outposts, ensuring the high quality that the Troyes stalwarts are so proud of. The Troyes factory is a little way out of the town centre, and unlike the huge mills of the north of England, this plant is a collection of small- and medium-sized buildings. Every week 35 tons of fabric are woven in the knitting rooms - stripes are everywhere - before being washed, dyed and dried at 140C for maximum shrinkage. Then begins a rigorous quality-control process. These procedures have been used here for decades, and attention to detail and obsession with perfection are evident throughout. In the cutting and sewing rooms, the largest of the factory, highly trained pattern cutters and seamstresses are working on the spring/summer 2014 collection. Take note: bicycle prints are going to be big for your mini-mes next year. So technically skilled are these ladies - and they are all ladies - that Petit Bateau has even started its own sewing school. With a number of its more senior grande dames coming up to retirement, it was time to get the next generation ready to take the reins. But this is a brand known for its immaculate finishing touches, so with tricky techniques such as picot loop edging and the tiny cocotte stitch (achieved using a sewing machine specially designed by the company in the 1960s) to learn, students are in Petit Bateau college for five years. It is not surprising that such finely honed garments should have been adopted by grown-ups, too. After Claudia Schiffer wore a Petit Bateau children's T-shirt on the catwalk for Karl Lagerfeld in 1994, inspiring thousands of women to do the same, the brand began making adult-sized clothes to fill the now-obvious gap in the market. This year the expansion into full adult collections has been taken further following the appointment of the Maison Kitsuné designers Gildas Loaëc and Masaya Kuroki as the creative heads of the adult lines. 'I chose Kitsuné because they love Petit Bateau,' Pergament says, 'and because their style is very compatible with ours. And they know how to speak to the younger generation. Kitsuné, which first collaborated with Petit Bateau on a capsule collection featuring a signature heart-shaped marine knot in 2009, was originally a Paris record label, with artists such as Digitalism, Mark Ronson and Two Door Cinema Club on its roster. 'We are a unique label having these two activities under the same umbrella,' Kuroki says. The emotion and dynamic of the Kitsuné music label provides a good tempo for our clothing lines. He describes the Kitsuné aesthetic as 'everyday chic, pop and fresh', and the aim is to bring this element of street cool to the hitherto more conventional Petit Bateau. Images from Petit Bateau's autumn winter 13 collection. So how will this pursuit of the new and edgy affect the old ways of life at Troyes? 'Petit Bateau is the number one brand in France, everyone has respect for their knowledge and quality products,' Kuroki says. One of our roles is to push their manufacturing process that little bit further, to create pieces that are up to date and on trend. Shoppers can judge the success of the Kitsuné influence when the first full collection arrives in stores this autumn - 'Lots of stripes as well as different shapes and volumes,' Kuroki says. There is a good dose of the traditional navy, red and yellow of Petit Bateau, but cashmere knits, a striped hoodie, tiny shorts and a lust-worthy cropped three-toggle duffel coat bring them into 2013. Next summer Loaëc and Kuroki are upping the ante with super-bright primary colours, playsuits, drop-waist T-shirt dresses, playful pineapple prints and stylish sweats - sort of sports luxe meets preppy, with a dash of good oldfashioned Parisienne elegance thrown in. Pergament, who joined Petit Bateau from Prada in 2010, is respectful of its heritage but wants to push it into the future. 'I want to keep the very high level of quality and the strong industrial culture we have, but bring design and the aesthetic back to the centre of the company,' he says. 'It's a different mindset and a big challenge.' A recent collaboration with the ultra-chic French design house Carven in 2012 created a small collection of pieces that perfectly combined the quality fabrics of Petit Bateau with the sophistication of Carven. Figure-hugging dresses in grey and red, striped bodysuits and detachable collars made for wearable and desirable collector's items. A member of staff at Petit Bateau's factory in Troyes. This photograph was among those exhibited around the town to mark the company's 120th anniversary. Now, in addition to bringing Loaëc and Kuroki on board, the company is involved with the Grand Prix du Jury Première Vision at the Hyères International Festival of Fashion and Photography. The prestigious award comes with €15,000 and the opportunity to work with Petit Bateau. This year's winner was Satu Maaranen from Finland, whose designs for the brand will be displayed at next year's festival and will be available in stores next May. It is hard to see the connection between Maaranen, who uses sand and sawdust in her fabrics, and the restrained, simple appeal of a Petit Bateau T-shirt, but Pergament is enthusiastic. 'She was absolutely amazing,' he says, 'the colours, the dresses - we were all fascinated by her and very happy that she won.' And what of the legendary Breton top, or marinière as the French call it? What will become of this staple? Kuroki says they are working on some lighter versions and have already created dresses and cute padded anoraks with the famous stripe. When people think of Petit Bateau, they think of the marinière Pergament says. It is iconic because of the quality and attention we put into it, but we also want to develop the line. Satu Maaranen wants to do the stripe like waves - it's about playing with it.' As with most historic brands, the evolution of Petit Bateau is reliant on a delicate balance between old and new - holding on to the best of the past while creating something covetable for now. Though the changes taking place in this 120th year are substantial, the heart of the company is still very much beating in Troyes and its devoted workers. As Pergament puts it, 'We have an expression - Petit Bateau is 50 per cent love and 50 per cent cotton.'