Chantelle is a family-run French lingerie brand founded in 1876. The company initially specialized in elastic fabrics for orthopedic use, but quickly found its true calling in the manufacture of corsetry and lingerie. Today Chantelle’s goal is to celebrate beauty in all its forms. The company initially specialized in elastic fabrics for orthopedic purposes, but quickly found its true calling in the manufacture of corsetry and lingerie. Today Chantelle’s goal is to celebrate beauty in all its forms.
Origins
In 1876, when women were in tight corsets, François Auguste Gamichon opened a company in Paris that made stockings, lap belts and elastic fabrics from a knitted material with vulcanized rubber. This new stretchy fabric enabled corset makers to offer products that were more comfortable.
evolution
After working with Paul-Maurice Kretz, the company brings the “Kretz tulle” onto the market, exports to South America and wins gold and silver medals at world exhibitions all over Europe. In 1949, the Chantelle brand as we know it was born: a brand that focused on bodices and later on bras and the rest of the lingerie range. As an innovative brand, Chantelle launched the first seamless bra in 1972. The T-shirt bra and the soft stretch line soon completed the range. Soft Stretch is the first seamless line of one-size-fits-all underwear that adapts to any morphology.
Current
For Chantelle, as for many other brands, the eco-concept is a great challenge. Since 2021, the brand has been offering the Chantelle One, its first 100 percent recyclable and zero waste bra that can be returned when you no longer want to wear it.
The Chantelle Group today consists of the brands Chantelle, Passionata, Chantal Thomass, Livera, Darjeeling and Femilet. 4,500 people currently work for the group in 10,000 sales outlets around the world, with sales of 370 million euros in 2019, according to the brand’s website.