Coronavirus in Toulouse: To resist the crisis, an aeronautical subcontractor launches into luxury leather goods
A priori difficult to find a common point between a vintage vanity and a cockpit. Yet in Labège, near Toulouse, the company ST Composites does both, with the same technologies. It is one of those aeronautical subcontractors that the health crisis has pushed to diversify to compensate for losses at a time when the sector is emerging from the worst turbulence in its history. And, while the company specializes in the manufacture of composite parts for fitting out aircraft cabins and cockpits, it has just embarked on a completely different adventure, that of luxury leather goods.
"I already had the idea in mind, but the crisis served as a catalyst to launch this project, which mobilizes local skills," says Stéphane Trento, director of ST Composites. Our activity was 100% dependent on aeronautics and space, both civil and military, so we lost 50 to 60% of activity due to the pandemic. This diversification was vital for an SME like ours since we know that the return to normal in the sector is not for tomorrow”.
Leather and mixed composites
Vanity therefore but also suitcase, watch box, cigar box or women's handbag have thus been manufactured with materials usually used for the interior of Airbus, ATR, Rafale or Boeing aircraft. A whole range of leather goods has been created with this material combining leather and fiberglass or carbon.
“Our vocation is to design, manufacture and market our first range of vintage-inspired leather goods, as a nod to the history of Aéropostale, combined with aeronautical technologies, emphasizes Stéphane Trento. The project is also guided by an eco-responsible approach: we eliminate all plastics, use plant fibers and biosourced resins. There are plenty of players on our territory who have developed alternative textiles and whom we want to solicit”.
ST Composites has just created a new company ST Luxury It has also launched a crownfunding operation on Wiseed in order to raise 400,000 euros to develop this project. The objective is to accelerate the commissioning of a website and an online store. The boss of ST Luxury is already imagining a second range of leather goods integrating on-board electronics or connected services.
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