France 3 Regions – Shoe polish, a successful luxury product: this company showcases French craftsmanship.

It is a prime example of French excellence, yet far more low-profile than Hermès or LVMH. One need only look at the figures: €40 million in revenue in 2023 - a fivefold increase since 2008 - and products sold in 85 countries. Exports account for fully 90% of the business for this family-owned company nestled in the heart of the Charente countryside.

This is the Alma Group, anchored by its parent company, Avel - a manufacturer of shoe polish. Together, they are global leaders in leather care products.

It is a success story rooted in shoe polish, launched by the Moura family. It all began with the grandfather, Lucien. A Russian émigré living in Paris, a wartime Resistance fighter, and an entrepreneur at heart, he acquired a care-product manufacturer in 1960 - the first in a long line of acquisitions. His son, Alexandre, founded Avel in 1977, naming it after the initials of family members. The Alma holding company followed in 2001 under the grandson, Marc, with its name chosen using the same formula.

These are business-savvy entrepreneurs who have acquired manufacturers of shoe polish and related products in France and around the world. They take over the brands and the recipes, then develop and improve them. This is how the prestigious Saphir brand, established in 1920, continued its journey under Avel following the bankruptcy of its original creators.

And success has been confirmed with each successive acquisition: "We respect tradition", says Marc Moura, President of the Alma Group. "We have always wanted to make shoe polish the old-fashioned way. We follow formulas dating back to the company's early days in the 1920s, using natural ingredients."

Brands over 100 years old

"Saphir", the company’s iconic brand, is set to celebrate its 105th anniversary, with its earliest shoe polishes dating back to 1872. Today, Avel offers a range of 3,000 products. "We use 31 different grades of wax, and each formulation incorporates seven of them", explains Marc Moura. These include mineral and vegetable waxes, such as Carnauba wax: "It is a wax used to add shine and protect the leather surface. It is natural and comes from a Brazilian tree. It is a very high-quality wax." The company’s polishes can contain up to 32% of these waxes, a factor that has elevated them to the status of luxury products.

Originally located in the Oise department north of Paris, the production site moved to Charente - specifically to the commune of Magnac-Lavalette, south of Angoulême - in 1986. The family had discovered the area after purchasing a holiday home there and fell in love with the region.

"We also found many advantages there, thanks to the luxury sector hub - which exists largely due to the Cognac industry. It met our needs", adds Marc Moura. "And the area is very well served by transport links." The 5,000 m² building eventually proved too small; it had to be expanded in 2016 with 6,000 m² of logistics warehousing, from which five million products were being shipped at the time. This is where Avel develops its new products with its team of chemists. There are thirty-seven employees in total.

Spain, Australia, Japan, the United States

However, Avel truly owes its rapid growth to international expansion. In the 1980s, the company sought out distant markets like the United States and Asia - the only way to grow when refusing to work with mass-market retailers. "We wanted to expand our most high-end brand, but our distributors were also buying mid-range products from competitors. Rather than creating a mid-range shoe polish from scratch, we chose to acquire established companies so that our partners would work exclusively with us."

Today, the Alma Group has subsidiaries in Spain, Australia, Belgium, and Singapore. "We strongly believe in 'Made in France.' Our high-end positioning has supported this French production. We decided to bring back to Magnac-Lavalette much of the manufacturing from foreign companies we had acquired over the years, focusing on quality based on natural ingredients." Its main competitors are Famaco and Collonil.

And this expansion is continuing. The Avel site in Charente is set to grow further: an additional 4,500 m² will be built over the next three years to modernize facilities and add production lines. The factory currently turns out 1,100 tonnes of products annually. In the future, capacity will increase fivefold. "Initially, we will boost production by 50%, but we are sizing the plant to meet needs for the next forty years."

For the Moura family is currently preparing for the next generation to take over. The fourth generation is already being groomed for the role; Marc Moura fully intends to hand the business down to his two daughters, Katia and Sophia, one day.

Link to the article : https://france3-regions.franceinfo.fr/nouvelle-aquitaine/charente/angouleme/nous-suivons-des-recettes-des-annees-20-le-cirage-un-produit-de-luxe-a-succes-cette-entreprise-est-une-vitrine-du-savoir-faire-a-la-francaise-3094984.html