Robert Leduc

"Even for a prosperous company, this policy is expensive! In those years from 1953 to 1960, advertising became “the boss’s passion.” Robert Leduc recounts: “Mr. Boussac had personally taken control of the entire department: he thought he could do everything, that everything was conceivable, he relied on advertising for everything, with no concept of budget, convinced there were no limits to his resources.” Receiving the Advertising Oscar in 1958 — which he certainly would have deserved — in his acceptance speech he said: “I want the name Boussac to stand for only impeccable merchandise,” and also: “I want that when a woman enters a shop, she says upon entering that she wants a ‘Boussac fabric’ and if she is told that there is none, she immediately leaves the shop.”"

"Then burning what he loved the day before, the shadow, the secrecy, Boussac fully commits to advertising. It makes all its products known under the brands “Loveline” (stabilized poplin), “Lava-clor” (luxury gingham and zephyrs), “Tissgar” (handkerchiefs), “Roma-nex” (upholstery fabrics), “Noveltex” (shirts), “Blizzand” (raincoats). According to the manager Robert Leduc, advertising costs several billion old francs per year. At that time, Boussac was the biggest advertiser in France, taking 130 pages of “placards” in the magazine Elle throughout the year, and up to sixteen pages in an issue of Jardin des Modes. The budget of Rhône-Poulenc in comparison was a quarter of that of Boussac. The king of cotton becomes intoxicated with the guarantee and works with his laboratories and factories so that all his fabrics deserve to bear the label. Only the personal approval of the boss gives these their mark of nobility."