A 50-year history
It all started in 1973, and all our teams have played a part in our story ever since. From our workshops in Marchiennes to our factories in Calcutta and Ahmedabad India, LEBON has left its mark on the world of PPE. The LEBON Group is much more than just a family business, uniting teams across the world around a single theme: protecting people in the workplace.
A family history
Our story began in Pecquencourt , northern France, in the family home of Gilbert and Jeannette LEBON, Fabrice LEBON's parents. Before them, Gilbert's father was a master tanner working on cowhide, sheep hide and exotic leathers. From this initial trade, Gilbert and Jeannette had an idea to create a new activity using this raw material. From then on, the idea was to create protective gloves for the industrial market.
This endeavour was pursued at an interesting time, because in the 1970s, following thirty years of sustained economic growth in France during the Trente Glorieuses, industry continued to thrive around a solid, local industrial hub employing thousands of people. There was an ever-growing desire to protect these workers and to introduce more regulations to ensure companies put appropriate measures in place. Although still in its infancy, the workplace PPE market had massive potential.
The fundamentals of the company for the past 50 years
We have drawn on frontier technologies, adapting them to our teams’ vision to offer our customers increasingly efficient and innovative products. Our teams have mastered these tools and technologies to ensure they get the best out of them, in order to produce protective gloves of unrivalled quality and always at the cutting edge of technology.
“LEBON's expertise has been built on its 50 years of experience. Our employees come from all walks of life and backgrounds, possessing a wealth of knowledge and experience that greatly enriches our product development. It also improves our understanding of real needs, allowing us to meet them effectively. Our factory-based experience is another important factor; our managers stay and develop with us as we use new technologies, we develop our tools alongside them and we learn together. They are also developing their techniques. They adapt and we develop together, which is a real strength of ours. ”
Aurélien, Research and Development Manager
Starting in 2000, when knitted gloves began to make their appearance, Lebon choose to manufacture in India, embarking on a joint venture one of the Group's historic partners. Since then, several production sites have been created to meet the demand for gloves using increasingly advanced technologies. Hundreds of production staff have been recruited, under French conditions, and work very closely with the Research and Development department. We have been on this industrial journey for more than 20 years, an adventure characterised by a real will to maintain the partnership over the long term
At the same time, it was decided to change the international approach by imagining one person per country to ensure that our products are prescribed consistently. LEBON now has a physical presence in 15 European countries and delivers to more than 35 countries worldwide.
50 years of industrial development
The first products were imagined and designed in the Pecquencourt workshop by Gilbert LEBON. He created prototypes, tested them, produced them and then started all over again constantly. Jeannette LEBON would sew and assemble the gloves as instructed by her husband. A few years later, production began to increase with the presence of the first seamstresses.
During the 90s, priority was given to their technical, cut-resistant gloves, still using their labour-intensive “cut and sew” technology. The workshops continued to produce specific technical gloves, particularly for high-temperature work, and aluminised clothing.
The turn of the century saw the emergence of “Palm fit” gloves, which originally came from Japan and were brand new to the market. A production unit was built with a soaking line for the production of soaked polyurethane gloves. From then on, it was unthinkable to pollute waterways and the environment and do harm to our production staff’s health while producing PU gloves. Which is how Clean PU® technology was born. A patented and responsible system. The first LEBON soaked gloves were produced and equipped with Clean PU® technology, the forefront of the company and the first major development in the market.
Industrial development continues to focus on the manufacture of products, and Active Sense, a range combining strength, durability and comfort, was created based on the Clean PU® coating. These gloves had greater abrasion resistance than your classic PU glove, representing a real breakthrough in the market. Expanding also means preparing for the future, furthering the group’s growth by integrating new nitrile technologies into our products, with new product ranges being released in 2023.
Since the company was founded, we have pursued a genuine industrial and development policy. This is what sets LEBON apart from our competitors and makes us a solid company. This success did not come without hard work. The keys to our success have always been to have the right products, at the right time and using the right tools, and, most importantly, to be surrounded by the best teams.
Our teams are the lifeblood of our company, drawing on their wide range of skills to help our company succeed. All of these people share a common goal: the group’s success. There is a real sense of cohesion between our teams across the world.
