Autumn in Périgord, it’s dead leaves and chestnuts in the woods, duck breast smoking on the stove, and being snuggled up in the wicker armchair, in its charentaise Made in Périgord. The Fargeot company has been manufacturing them since the 1930s in Thiviers. Between 100,000 and 150,000 Chausse-Mouton brand slippers leave its factory every year, “with a potential that can be estimated to double in the short term to satisfy the market”, estimates Charles Bataille, the boss who was the guest of La Nouvelle Eco on France Bleu Périgord this Thursday, November 4.
The slipper market boosted by confinements
“The confinements of the health crisis have carried us a little”, he explains. The medical footwear business has declined significantly for the company, but slipper sales have skyrocketed : “Stuck with us at home, and with a desire to be comfortably installed by the fireplace, the slipper and charentaise activity has developed”, and “it is still developing”, with around fifteen hires over the past two years to replace retirements and reinforce production.
Stuck with us at home, and with a desire to be comfortably installed by the fireplace, the slipper and charentaise activity has developed
The company will be from November 11 in Paris at the Made in France fair in Paris. “We will be present”, says Charles Bataille, “to highlight the know-how of our teams, relatively little known but rewarding trades, in a fairly nice atmosphere”. It will highlight the assembly of Charentaises, “technical, manual and complex trades that take time to learn to have real know-how”.