Chantelle Épernay, corsetry excellence and diversification

Long identified as a workshop exclusively dedicated to the Group's brands, the Épernay site is now undergoing a new phase of development. Open to external collaborations, committed to the diversification of know-how and heavily invested in training and industrial tooling, the workshop is asserting its ambition to make its savoir-faire shine and consolidate demanding, meticulous and agile French manufacturing.

A historic site, pillar of the Chantelle group

The history of Chantelle began in 1876 with the Kretz family, initially specializing in the design of tulles and crepes for corsets and girdles. In 1949, the Chantelle brand was created and became a manufacturer of finished products. The Épernay workshop opened in 1962 with 250 seamstresses for the garment making of the first bra, marking a strategic turning point for the group.

Today, Épernay remains the historic site and the group's only workshop based in France. "It's a strong asset for a group like us to master the entire value chain, emphasizes Delphine Chapelot. Development, industrialization, production and quality control are brought together here, offering a complete vision of processes and social and industrial issues.

While the group went international in the 1980s with the opening of its own factories abroad, Épernay retains a central role. "We're the group's historic site", recalls the manager, in a region strongly marked by the champagne industry, where the culture of manual work and precision is deeply rooted. The workshop also continues to manufacture the brand's emblematic designs, some of which will be revisited for the 150th anniversary, such as the "Fête" and "Champs-Élysées" models.

The Product development unit, the strategic heart of savoir-faire

In Épernay, corsetry is based on great technical skill. A bra can require up to 25 parts and some thirty operations, most of them manual. This complexity is at play right from the upstream phase in the Product development unit, the backbone of the fifteen-strong workshop, which oversees product development for both Group brands and external customers. "It takes us nine months to develop a product", explains Delphine Chapelot. A long time, justified by our high quality standards: material tests, shape adjustments, size declinations, repeated prototyping."There is no gradation: each size is subject to specific fine-tuning because of the different depths of winter hats", explains the manager.

Teams work out patternmaking according to material characteristics, defining manufacturing ranges, operating times and bills of materials. This rigorous approach secures downstream production. People in development can go into production and vice versa, which creates a real awareness of the need to "take the time to develop the part so that once in production, there are no more questions asked".

This proximity between development and production, relaunched on this site, is essential. Teams can move from one to the other, fostering a fine understanding of constraints and continuous process improvement.

Corsetry as a foundation, diversification as a lever

While corsetry and swimwear form the historical foundation of the site, the Épernay workshop is now part of an assertive diversification drive. "When you know how to make corsetry, you can make almost anything", sums up Delphine Chapelot. Flou / soft dressmaking, warp and weft, sports bras, leggings, children's underwear, medical products or PPE are now part of the savoir-faire developed.

One of Chantelle's major areas of expertise is Draping, the company's emblematic technique. It relies on the use of heated molds to preform the material and create seamless winter hats. "The challenge is to find the right time and heat for the material", says the manager. Each product setting is tested, washed, dried and adjusted to guarantee fit, comfort and durability. This technique offers precise curves and invisibility under the garment, particularly appreciated in the American and Asian markets. The workshop also masters heat-welded stitching, laser cutting, flocking or heat transfer press to avoid labels, as well as complex operations such as strapping, which involves placing and concealing bra underwires, "corsetry is an extremely meticulous profession", reminds Delphine Chapelot.

Since the summer, the workshop has taken a new step by integrating automatic cutting, previously done entirely by hand, and now relies on Lectra software. This means greater precision and efficiency, to enhance product quality. Finally, each item undergoes a 100% final inspection, both visual and statistical, with extremely low tolerances. This global requirement contributed to the Épernay workshop being awarded the Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant (EPV) label in August 2025, for the wealth of its savoir-faire and the quality of its in-house training.

In addition, a key role is played by the machine technicians, trained in-house. "We've developed specific guides to do certain operations in one go instead of ten, explains Delphine Chapelot. These developments enable us to gain in precision, working comfort and industrial performance. "If we have the minimum volumes to produce, we invest in the necessary equipment", says the manager.

This logic has notably enabled us to develop more affordable seamless products, such as panties made using a semi-automatic machine. "Our policy is to diversify to meet the desire to make in France, from luxury to mass-market", explains the manager. Over the past five years, the workshop has collaborated with over 30 brands, almost half of them French, but also many international brands. "We support brands that come with a sketch as well as those who want turnkey solutions. Our aim is to promote the workshop and develop new savoir-faire", concludes the manager.

To find out more, discover the company fact sheet for Chantelle Epernay.