Established in the Aube, capital of the French textile industry in the nineteenth century,[2] at that time the Saint-Joseph factory in Troyes manufactured the entire production.
In 1918 Étienne, the founder's son, invented underpants without legs and buttons and replaced the rough wool by white unbleached cotton.
Valton was inspired by the nursery rhyme Maman les p'tits bateaux (Mummy the little boats) for the name of this new underwear, and he registered it as his trademark.
Present in Europe, Japan, China, the Middle East, Russia and the United States, its products are sold in nearly 400 Petit Bateau shops, 4,300 partner stores and also on its e-commerce website launched in 2006.
They gradually became more accessible and became part of the everyday life of women, emancipating them from the thick woollen undergarments worn in the nineteenth century.
It was by observing the special armholes of T-shirts worn by American soldiers, who could put on their underwear without taking off their helmets, that Petit Bateau invented its first baby bodysuits in 1950, designed for ease and practicality.
[7] In 1980 the Valton family continued to revisit the traditional bodysuit for babies by creating the first model with press stud closure between the legs to further facilitate the dressing and movement of toddlers.
[9] Terry cloth bouclette, also mainly used by Petit Bateau for pyjamas or for bathing accessories and childcare items, has a soft feel and offers a high level of wearing comfort.
[17] The Petit Bateau T-shirt was originally an undergarment, born 120 years ago in Troyes, initially in wool, then in premium cotton.
Underwear for children, the white Petit Bateau T-shirt became an outer garment, a new fashion icon worn by adults.
Sales of T-shirts increased tenfold over the next three years and Petit Bateau made its entrance into the adult clothing department at Printemps Haussmann in 1999.
Marinette, an imaginary character designed by the English illustrator Beatrice Mallet, represented the company with humour for thirty years.
[21] In 2013 a new campaign by BETC, continuing the theme of "The Months", stressed the trans-generational dimension of Petit Bateau with the voluntarily incorrect syntax: "Never old forever", and used photographs based on energy and spontaneity: the models skip, stick out their tongues, or dance.
Created by BETC and directed by Patrick Daughters, it staged children in a secret factory that follows a fanciful production process, as if taken from a child's imagination.
In March 2016 the brand launched a printed campaign with the slogan " For serious kids " in English, which was a series of brightly colourful compositions.
The commercial retains the spirit of the brand through a sequence of 72 shots in one minute, punctuated by the title line of Plastic Bertrand's Ça plane pour moi.
[24] A follower of popular melodies since its creation, its own name being inspired by the famous nursery rhyme “Maman les p'tits bateaux” (“Mummy do the little boats that go on the water have legs?”), the brand strengthened its musical identity in 2017 by reusing Jacques Dutronc's song released in 1978.
[34] Beyond the world of fashion, Petit Bateau establishes partnerships with illustrators from various horizons, from contemporary children's literature to the alternative culture of the 1980s.
Thus, the house of Deyrolle,[35] Keith Haring,[36] Hervé Tullet[37] or the emblematic authors of L'École des loisirs (Claude Ponti, Tomi Ungerer, Mario Ramos, Dorothée de Monfreid and Iris Moüy) have each in their turn stamped their style on T-shirts, panties and bodysuits.
[42] As for the manufacture, 85% of the clothes (underpants, pyjamas, panties or T-shirts) are made in the Petit Bateau factory in Marrakech and in the partner production plants in Morocco and Tunisia.