Lou

In 1946 in the Orient-Express, the entrepreneur André Faller met Lucienne, nicknamed "Lu" (now "Lou" with the American accent). This last teacher of gymnastics, indulges in a secret love for sewing2. She draws and sews her intimate lingerie and invented from a round piece of iron her own whale bras that she created for her personal comfort. André Faller married and joined the project Lucienne, it wanted to share his expertise and make it accessible to other women and his meeting with André Faller allowed to give an industrial dimension to his project. The love of Lou and André for the mountains and especially skiing led them to set up their Lou lingerie business in Grenoble.Initially located in an abandoned glove, Lou then moved to Berriat course before settling in 1950 in a new factory of 30 000m² Street General Ferrié. The company quickly took on an industrial dimension and from the beginning of the adventure, André Faller took care of the management and devotes 10% of the turnover to the advertising not hesitating to appeal to Luis Mariano, who chanta Who's afraid of the big bad Lou? 3, or Annie Cordy4. During this same period Lucienne becomes head of the creative workshops. She creates innovative bras at the same time technical, rogues, conjugating colors and quality of the textile just as her first creations. In two years the brand is needed and becomes number one of the French corsetry.In the early 1970s, the company is at its peak. The latter listed on the stock market, is of interest to many foreign buyers but General de Gaulle opposes the flight of such a prestigious company. It is the Générale Alimentaire that bought the entire capital of the Lou brand in 1971.Three years later, in 1974, the Faller couple created the women's ready-to-wear brand Karting, which Brigitte Bardot became the muse in 1976, wearing the famous stretch jersey trousers in a television advertisement directed by Gérard Pirès. : we can admire the silhouette of Brigitte Bardot, filmed only back, down the Champs-Elysees and wearing elephant leg pants, before the final close-up where the actress turns to face the camera by simply pronouncing "Karting". The spot will be broadcast 25 times on Antenne 2, the advertising campaign having started on March 10, 1976. It will continue with the broadcast from April 30 of a second spot of the director in which Brigitte Bardot wearing this time a skirt Karting : for this second more rhythmic film, Brigitte Bardot thrills all the passers-by that she crosses while walking on a Parisian avenue, always filmed from the back except for a shot of her radiant face, finally turning towards the camera for the final shot and still pronouncing simply "Karting". On June 15, 2010, the brand reissues its elephant leg pants made famous by the actress in a limited series called "I love you".In 1978, after an eventful period, Jean Bellanger buys Lou and imagines the Miss Lou bra. The volume of production then increases from 20,000 to 500,000 pieces in a year. He repositioned the brand among the leaders. In the 1980s, Lou is present in sixty countries. In 1991, Jean Bellanger sold the brand to Catalan Vives Vidal, which then sold it to Vanity Fair Corporation in 1992. Vanity Fair Corporation maintained its head office in Seyssinet. Since Isère, he manages the six brands Lou, Bolero, Silhouette, Lee, Wrangler and Jantzen and employs 400 employees in the Rhône-Alpes region. 30% of Lou and Boléro's production is made in Fontaine.In 2004 Lucienne Faller died of an operation, her husband André joined him 4 years later, in July 2008 at the age of 96 years. Having no children, the couple Faller decided to bequeath part of their fortune to their former employees and collaborators who worked in their companies Lou and Karting5. The latter received a check worth between € 3,500 and € 7,000. Another part of this fortune was bequeathed to the Brigitte-Bardot Foundation4, the Faller couple having always had good relations with the actress who was the muse of their brand Karting in 1976.Now established in the Paris region, the Lou brand has become Lou Paris. Less