Aigle (company) on:
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Aigle is a French footwear and textile company founded in 1853 as the Compagnie du Caoutchouc Souple (Flexible Rubber Company) in Company snapshot
/ref> In 2005 majority ownership of the company was purchased by
Montargis
Montargis () is a communes of France, commune in the Loiret Departments of France, department, Centre-Val de Loire, France.
Montargis is the seventh most populous commune in the Loiret, after Orléans and its suburbs. It is near a large forest, ...
(France) by the American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
businessman Hiram Hutchinson
Hiram Hutchinson (1808–1869) was an American industrialist of British origin. In 1853 he founded a rubber company in France that was the predecessor of Hutchinson SA, a multinational industrial conglomerate. The company was sold by his family in ...
.
Hutchison had obtained a license in 1850 from fellow American Charles Goodyear
Charles Goodyear (December 29, 1800 – July 1, 1860) was an American self-taught chemist and manufacturing engineer who developed vulcanized rubber, for which he received patent number 3633 from the United States Patent Office on June 15, 1844.
...
's patent
A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...
ed vulcanization
Vulcanization (British: Vulcanisation) is a range of processes for hardening rubbers. The term originally referred exclusively to the treatment of natural rubber with sulfur, which remains the most common practice. It has also grown to include ...
process. He emigrated to France where he applied the new process to the production of Wellington boot
The Wellington boot was originally a type of leather boot adapted from Hessian boots, a style of military riding boot. They were worn and popularised by Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington. The "Wellington" boot became a staple of pr ...
s and then raincoats. In the 20th century the company expanded into the production of accessories for the motor industry and, from the 1950s, sports shoes.
In 1967 the company, by now long renamed Aigle, moved manufacturing to Ingrandes, near Châtellerault
Châtellerault (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Châteulrô/Chateleràud''; oc, Chastelairaud) is a commune in the Vienne department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in France. It is located in the northeast of the former province Poitou, and the re ...
, on a 30 hectare site where around 10,000 pairs of shoes are produced annually.
Beginning in 2000 the company expanded into Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
and the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. In 2006 there were 131 stores worldwide, of which 61 were in France, 14 elsewhere in Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
, and 56 in Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...
. Gross sales for the 2005 fiscal year were around 120 million euro
The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...
s./ref> In 2005 majority ownership of the company was purchased by
Swiss
Swiss may refer to:
* the adjectival form of Switzerland
* Swiss people
Places
* Swiss, Missouri
* Swiss, North Carolina
*Swiss, West Virginia
* Swiss, Wisconsin
Other uses
*Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports
*Swiss Internation ...
group Maus Frères
Maus Frères SA (French for "Maus Brothers") is a Swiss holding company based in Geneva that owns the Lacoste brand, department stores and other businesses.
It was founded in 1902 by wholesalers Ernest and Henri Maus and retailer Léon Nordmann.
.
References