Risk-Taking With Calculated Stockpiles

“The talent lies in knowing how to transform an obstacle into an opportunity. Aircraft fabric is a material not only of legendary strength but with enough flexibility and lightness to serve as the ideal material for making clothing items… Such is at least the idea that arises in Boussac’s mind, the spark, the stroke of genius!”

“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.”