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Par Philippine Sander - Le 4 mai 2015
Pétrus crates, Louis Vuitton bags, A380… France is successful abroad ! But behind these grand-sounding names, let’s explore some other big achievements of our French industry reaching beyond our borders. Last month an article in L’Express listed a handful of success stories. We’ve reviewed 5 of our favorites.


1 – The “cholesterol friendly” fryer

Making two pounds of fries with just one spoonful of oil ? This is now possible with Actifry, a fryer developed by Seb, a company based in Burgundy.

“Seb c’est bien !” especially when it makes sales of nearly €4 billion aborad. American superstar Oprah Winfrey even praised the fryer to her 3.6 million Instagram followers. OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOSH !

2 – The pen for writing and chewing

Who has never chewed up its pen cap ?!

Since its inception in the 1950s, more than 100 billion pens have been sold in the world ! Today Bic turns over 1 billion euros in North America only,  and spreads frenchy happiness in the mouths of all American teenagers. Good job.

3 – Out to sea “à la frenchy”

The wealthiest French don’t splash out on a yacht with a helipad and a sundeck full of bimbos. Not for them. As true aesthetes and athletes, they’d rather invest on a Beneteau sailing boat made in Vendée ! And the “ Frenchy Gentleman Sailor” style spreads abroad as France, the leader in this field, exports many of its elegant sailboats.

4 – The world’s best-selling fragrance

The perfume which took over the top selling place previously held by the emblematic Chanel n°5 is the very frenchy “La vie est belle” from Lancôme. Say it with Julia Roberts’ accent, the not-so-frenchy muse with a devastating smile.

To wit : this success yielded €66 million to L’Oréal i.e. to Liliane and the nasty crows who prey upon her perm.

5 –  Bip. Bip. Bip. Bip. Bip. Bip. Bip.

What’s more mysterious and universal than a bar code ? For the rest of the world nothing. But for us Frenchies, it’s factual and local ! To be more precise the four types of bar codes that circulate in the world are generated in Nantes, Loire-Atlantique by the Armor company! Bip. Bip. ? YEAHHHH !