Evian (, ; , stylized as evian) is a French brand that bottles

mineral water Mineral water is water from a mineral spring that contains various minerals, such as salts and sulfur compounds. It is usually still, but may be sparkling ( carbonated/ effervescent). Traditionally, mineral waters were used or consumed at t ...

from several sources near

Évian-les-Bains Évian-les-Bains (), or simply Évian (, , or ), is a Communes of France, commune in Eastern France, by the border with Switzerland. It is located in the northern part of the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. A high-m ...

, on the south shore of

Lake Geneva Lake Geneva is a deep lake on the north side of the Alps, shared between Switzerland and France. It is one of the List of largest lakes of Europe, largest lakes in Western Europe and the largest on the course of the Rhône. Sixty percent () ...

. Evian is owned by

Danone Danone S.A. () is a French multinational corporation, multinational food-products corporation based in Paris. It was founded in 1919 in Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain. It is listed on Euronext Paris, where it is a component of the CAC 40 stock mark ...

, a French

multinational corporation A multinational corporation (MNC; also called a multinational enterprise (MNE), transnational enterprise (TNE), transnational corporation (TNC), international corporation, or stateless corporation, is a corporate organization that owns and cont ...

. In addition to the mineral water, Danone Group uses the Evian name for a line of organic

skin care Skin care or skincare is the practice of maintaining and improving the health and appearance of the skin. It includes washing, moisturizing, protecting from the sun, and treating skin problems like acne and dryness. Skin care can help prevent i ...

products and a

luxury resort A resort hotel is a hotel which often contains full-sized resort facilities with full-service accommodations and luxury amenities. These hotels may attract both business conferences and vacationing tourists and offer more than a convenient plac ...

in Évian-les-Bains.

History

Evian first became a public company in 1859 as the "Société anonyme des eaux minérales de Cachat" and a year later it became French when

Savoy Savoy (; )  is a cultural-historical region in the Western Alps. Situated on the cultural boundary between Occitania and Piedmont, the area extends from Lake Geneva in the north to the Dauphiné in the south and west and to the Aosta Vall ...

was incorporated into France under the Treaty of Turin. The French Ministry of Health reauthorized the bottling of Cachat water on the recommendation of the Medicine Academy in 1878. In 1908, Evian water began to be sold in glass bottles manufactured by the glass factory Souchon-Neuvesel, which today is a part of

Owens-Illinois O-I Glass, Inc. is an American company that specializes in container glass products. It is the largest manufacturer of glass containers in North America, South America, Asia-Pacific and Europe (after acquiring BSN Glasspack in 2004). Company ...

. The first

PVC Polyvinyl chloride (alternatively: poly(vinyl chloride), colloquial: vinyl or polyvinyl; abbreviated: PVC) is the world's third-most widely produced synthetic polymer of plastic (after polyethylene and polypropylene). About 40 million tons o ...

bottle was launched in 1969. During the following year, the BSN Group, which eventually became the Danone Group, took 100% control of the Évian brand. Evian entered the U.S. market in 1978. In 1995, Evian switched to collapsible

polyethylene terephthalate Polyethylene terephthalate (or poly(ethylene terephthalate), PET, PETE, or the obsolete PETP or PET-P), is the most common thermoplastic polymer resin of the polyester family and is used in synthetic fibre, fibres for clothing, packaging, conta ...

(PET) bottles.

Production

Evian's site in the

French Alps The French Alps are the portions of the Alps mountain range that stand within France, located in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur regions. While some of the ranges of the French Alps are entirely in France, others, such a ...

was, during 2015, the largest carbon-neutral food and beverage production site in France.

Public perception, marketing and advertising

Evian has sought to portray itself as popular among Hollywood celebrities. The brand frequently collaborates with high-fashion designers to produce limited edition bottles.

Diane von Fürstenberg Diane von Fürstenberg (born Diane Simone Michele Halfin; 31 December 1946) is a Belgian fashion designer best known for her wrap dress. She initially rose to prominence in 1969 when she married into the German princely House of Fürstenberg ...

designed the limited edition bottle for 2013,

Elie Saab Elie Saab () (born 4 July 1964) is a Lebanon-based fashion designer. He started his business in the early 1980s and specialized in bridal couture (high-end fabrics, lace, gemstones, Swarovski Crystal, Swarovski crystals, pearls, detailed embr ...

for 2014, Kenzo for 2015, Alexander Wang for 2016,

Christian Lacroix Christian Marie Marc Lacroix (; born 16 May 1951) is a French fashion designer. The name may also refer to the company he founded. Lacroix's designs combine luxury and insouciance. He prefers artisanal trades, fringe, bead, and embroidery. He's ...

for 2017,

Chiara Ferragni Chiara Ferragni (; born 7 May 1987) is an Italian Internet celebrity, blogger and influencer. Since 2021, Ferragni has been engulfed in controversy as the protagonist of the Pandorogate, Pandorogate fraud scandal in which she is alleged to hav ...

for 2018,

Virgil Abloh Virgil Abloh (; September 30, 1980 – November 28, 2021) was an American fashion designer and entrepreneur. A trained architect, Abloh founded his own line of luxury streetwear clothing under the moniker Pyrex Vision in 2012, which he transfor ...

for 2019 and 2020,

Moncler Moncler S.p.A. is an Italian luxury fashion brand specialized in ready-to-wear outerwear headquartered in Milan, Italy. Its core branding includes the Rooster#Terminology, cockerel, "M" monogram, felt appliqué badge, crossed skis and cartoon duc ...

for 2021, and Balmain for 2022. Evian worked with

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a British record label owned by Universal Music Group. They were originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman (musician), ...

and

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

in 1998 for the mix album '' Club Nation''. The album featured many advertisements for Évian, including a logo on the cover, six full pages in the booklet, the image of a bottle of Évian on CD1 and a crushed bottle of Évian on CD2. In 2009, Evian launched the advertisement campaign, "Evian Roller Babies". The campaign won a Gold Award at the London International Awards 2009 for Best Visual Effects. Evian

brand ambassadors A brand ambassador (sometimes also called a corporate ambassador) is a person paid by an organization or company to represent its brand in a positive light, helping to increase brand awareness and sales. The brand ambassador is meant to embody the ...

include singer

Dua Lipa Dua Lipa ( ; born22 August 1995) is an English and Albanian singer, songwriter and actress. List of awards and nominations received by Dua Lipa, Her accolades include seven Brit Awards and three Grammy Awards. Lipa worked as a model before v ...

and tennis player Emma Raducanu. In 2023, Evian collaborated with Balmain for a

high fashion (; ; French for 'high sewing', 'high dressmaking') is the creation of exclusive custom-fitted high-end fashion design. The term ''haute couture'' generally refers to a specific type of upper garment common in Europe during the 16th to th ...

collection entitled, “Balmain X Evian”.

Environmentalism

In April 2008, Evian created the ''Evian Water Protection Institute'' to work on three water and wetlands management projects with the

Ramsar Convention The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of Ramsar site, Ramsar sites (wetlands). It is also known as the Convention on We ...

. The three areas where the projects will take place are Thailand's Bung Khong, the

La Plata Basin LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second most populous city in the United States of America. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music *La (musical note), or A, the sixth note *"L.A.", a song by Elliott Smit ...

in Argentina and the Jagdishpur Reservoir in

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

. Evian has also cut energy and water use by incorporating post-consumer recycled PET plastic into the bottle sizes that receive the most sales. The company has joined with Recyclebank to promote recycling. During 2018, Evian announced that it would make all of its plastic bottles from 100% recycled plastic by 2025. During April 2020, Evian claimed to have achieved

carbon neutrality Global net-zero emissions is reached when greenhouse gas emissions and removals due to human activities are in balance. It is often called simply net zero. ''Emissions'' can refer to all greenhouse gases or only carbon dioxide (). Reaching net ze ...

. In October 2022, a

class action A class action is a form of lawsuit. Class Action may also refer to: * ''Class Action'' (film), 1991, starring Gene Hackman and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio * Class Action (band), a garage house band * "Class Action" (''Teenage Robot''), a 2002 e ...

lawsuit was filed by plaintiff Stephanie Dorris on behalf of consumers of Evian water, alleging that the claim of carbon neutrality was false and misleading. In January 2024, US District Judge Nelson S. Román ruled that the class action lawsuit could proceed, calling ''carbon neutral'' an ambiguous term that may reasonably confuse consumers and saying that Danone "expects too much" for consumers to learn what the term means from Evian labels. In response, lawyers for Danone argued that it is unreasonable for consumers to assume that the product "magically arrived from the French Alps to their homes without the emission of even a molecule of carbon dioxide."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Evian Bottled water brands French brands French drinks Groupe Danone brands Mineral water Companies based in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes 1829 establishments in Europe Food and drink companies established in 1829 French companies established in 1829 History of Savoy Haute-Savoie Évian-les-Bains