Aigle

French firm and brand of casual and sportswear. The brand began in 1853 when an American, Hiram Hutchinson, moved to France and established in Montargis the Compagnie Nationale du Caoutchouc, the first French factory of rubber boots (in the Indian language the words caa ou tchou mean crying tree). He registered the Aigle trademark in memory of the American eagle. At the time, France was essentially a rural country and success was almost immediate with the farmers who appreciated a waterproof, comfortable, and strong product. In the 1950s and ’60s, the production of tennis shoes was more than 8 million pieces. At the end of the 1960s the factory moved to Ingrandes, near Chatellerault, in the Vienne region, to the site of a former American military base, and the name of the brand was simplified to “Aigle”. In 1972, at the Olympic Games in Munich, the firm launched, with Marc Payot, the soon-to-be-famous deck shoe Nautisme, with its two white stripes on a blue, red or yellow ground and an anti-slip suction sole. In 1989, along with the first textile Collection, the firm opened a shop in Saint Germain-de-Près in Paris. Starting in 1990 the factory was no longer part of the Hutchinson group and 80% was acquired by the investment company Apax Partners. It began to be quoted on the stock exchange, widened its market in Japan (20 single-brand and franchise stores), Korea, Hong Kong (5 single-brand stores), Taiwan and France. It opened franchise boutiques in Strasbourg, London and Düsseldorf. By 2000 the brand had a total of 102 stores (46 in Europe and 56 in Asia). A pioneer in France in clothing for the outdoors, is among the industry’s leading European brands with more than 700 different products for climbing, sailing, hunting, fishing, riding skiing, travel, and leisure time. Over the years, industrial discipline and continuous research have improved product quality, but Aigle boots are still unique items hand-made of natural rubber. In Summer 2001, the first children’s Collection made its début and Winter 2001-2002 saw a high-tech line, Actimum, specially developed to answer the need for comfort and thermal protection in the most extreme climates. In 2003, Aigle celebrated 150 years of activity. For the occasion Eric Bergère was asked to design a new clothing line, a limited series of the brand’s “essential” pieces. The famous shoe launched in 1972 with Payot, today renamed Malouine, was selected as “object of the year” for the Première Classe exhibit that is held every March at the Jardin des Tuileries, “dressed” by twelve designers, in a game of metamorphoses of the Third Millennium.