French pétanque espadrilles become a hit with US buyers
Magnetic shoes started out as a joke
Special ‘pétanque espadrilles’ that started out as a joke have become a hit among US francophiles.
Olivier Gelly, who founded his espadrille company Payote in 2016, was playing the sport with friends last summer when he came up with the idea.
He imagined a magnet to help players collect their boules, then came up with a side pocket to hold the cochonnet (jack) and a built-in tape measure for checking whose boules are closest to the jack.
A hit in the US
They have been successful in the US, with the country now accounting for 40% of sales.
Mr Gelly thinks part of the appeal might be that they are seen as typically French, combining a traditional shoe with a classic southern sport.
“It made for a really symbolic product,” he said.
Social media also played a part. A video of a prototype racked up more than 40 million views.
“It must have gone viral over there,” he said.
From a joke to a business success
Before Payote was attracting millions of social media views and an international customer base, it started as a small shoe business idea that Mr Gelly financed by selling his car.
With its ‘Made in France’ label, Payote has expanded to include everything from glitter espadrilles to Harry Potter-themed sandals.
The name is a nod to pellote, a Catalan term children use for a soft toy, and paillote, French for a small beach hut.
Although the shoes were originally a joke, the idea soon progressed to the prototype.
“With the workshop, with my team, we had fun making it,” Mr Gelly said.
“Then afterwards, I thought, hey, I’m going to post it on social media, without thinking it might be popular.”
They received around 30,000 requests for the shoes soon afterwards.
“We didn’t even have them in stock – we didn’t even know how to make them.”
A month later, they released the first pairs for sale.
Growing popularity abroad
The US has an estimated 30,000 pétanque players.
The shoes are also popular in the UK, where there are an estimated 40,000 players.
Payote continues to innovate and recently launched a bottle-opener espadrille.
“We’re modernising this iconic product and we show who makes it, where we make it, and how we make it,” Mr Gelly said.
