Marithe and Francois Girbaud

The couple Francois Girbaud (born 1945 in Mazabet, France) and Marithe Bachellerie (born 1942 in Lyon, France) met in Paris in the early 1960's. Two years later, they opened a boutique selling American-style denim Jeans of their own design. They were the first to offer faded jeans to the public in 1963, which they produced in a launderette.

The Girbauds followed this up by many jean "firsts" in the fashion world such as the famous Cowboy jeans in 1964 and the Stonewashed jeans in 1965 etc.

In 1970, they started selling jeans with bell-bottoms legs and also introduced a "Boutonneux" jean with 50 buttons. Throughout these years their jeans set the styles for stone-washed and baggy designs. Many of their designs were copied by other fashion houses. They introduced their first baggy jeans in 1974 and their first leather menswear pants in 1975.

Marithe and François Girbaud were widely regarded as the fashion designers who pushed the boundaries of fabric innovation, developing new techniques, developing distressed leather and introducing some active new sportswear. In 1984, they introduced the Cargo Pocket and in 1988 the 'Metamorphojean'.

Even today, they are one of the principal companies selling denim garments, particularly pants, in a very broad range of styles. They also use other fabrics like leather, corduroy, khaki cotton, etc.

Girbaud fashion has always been a mixture of technical innovation, fabric, development, street style and novel cutting. They are also recognized worldwide for their advancements into fabric design and styling, innovators of denim stone-washing process, distressed leather, wrinkled leather, laser-cut leather and active sportswear fabrics.

Their top line is the famous SPORCITY collection, and their skiwear line, which is sold mainly in mountain ski resorts, named the ACTIFE collection. They also design womenswear and menswear collections which involve nature, technology and culture.

Marithe and Francois Girbaud lines have always had a good amount of coverage in the United States, which makes up for about 40% of his global wholesale turnover of close to $ 200 million.


 

Find fashion by Marithe and Francois Girbaud @ the following eshop: