Absorb Distressed Factories After Crisis

"Boussac buys back, under very favorable conditions, twelve textile companies which he acquires for the commonly cited sum of 1.2 million francs."

"From that moment, with singular foresight—and what boldness!—he laid the foundation of his textile empire."

"Remarkable master of his luck, Boussac had bet on inflation, which always stimulates business. The victory of the Popular Front made him win his bet. His industrial establishment remained at the mercy of a restrictive policy. When Léon Blum lifted the mortgage of stagnation, a new critical milestone was reached by the one who was beginning to be called the king of cotton. With a devalued franc and more competitive for export, heightened domestic demand brought by the forty-hour workweek, new wage agreements, and paid vacations, the floodgates reopened for his factories where he took the risk of overstocking."

"Another key—and not the least—of success: integration, that is, bringing together all decision-making into one hand: from spinning to the client. At the time when he was just a “factory shipper,” Boussac understood the cost of lost time, overheads, and ultimately the inefficiency of industrial compartmentalization. At the end of the war, he bought out manufacturers’ businesses exhausted from working on order, without possibilities for expansion. Welding the links of the chain is the certainty of producing faster, at lower costs, and therefore at unbeatable prices. Boussac is already a spinner, weaver, wholesaler, and retailer with the Toile-d’avion. He now aims for garment making."