Lafuma

Lafuma is a French based company that specializes in outdoor equipment and clothing, such as backpacks, sleeping bags, and footwear. They also offer a wide variety of other equipment, earning comparisons to United States-based companies such as Patagonia and Columbia Sportswear. Group brands include Eider, Millet and Oxbow. The Lafuma clothing brands have been personified by sport personalities and recently by the French actor and stuntman Karl E. Landler.
History.
The three Lafuma brothers – Victor, Alfred and Gabriel – founded Lafuma in 1930 producing backpacks. In 1936, the company invented the metal-frame braced backpack, which expanded the group considerably. Having produced products for both the French Army pre-World War II, and during the occupation of France by Nazi Germany for the Wehrmacht, the company resumed production post-war. In 1954 Lafuma expanded into camping furniture.
In 1984, the company went bankrupt, and was taken over by a grandson of the founders, Philippe Joffard. In 1985 the company expanded into sleeping bags, and in 1986 moved part of its production to Tunisia. In 1991, the company launched new clothing brands, and in 1992 opened new production facilities in Hungary. This allowed the resumption of the production of brands Millet and Le Chameau in 1995.
The company was launched on the CAC Small second market in 1997, reducing the founding-families share to around a 15% share holding. Philippe Joffard remains chairman.
In 2004, the company purchased the jeans brand Ober, and in 2005 Oxbow. In 2006, the company began co-branding winter clothing with Thierry Mugler. After a difficult year in 2007, Lafuma resumed production of the Eider brand, but by moving production from Éloise to overseas facilities.
In 2012 Le Chameau was sold to Marwyn Management Partners, a UK-based private equity company.
Current.
The group is still highly reliant on the domestic French market, with 60% of group turnover generated from French sales. The current brandlines of the group include (with reported sales percentages):
Detailed figures for the licensing of the Killy trademark are not published. Turnover by product is broken down as:
The group has eight production sites, in: France (4); Hungary (1); Tunisia (1); Morocco (1); and China (1).