Saint-Étienne – It is still a very small company but it has made a name for itself in textiles for sports use. BV Sport now wants to tackle the giants of “running” shoes, with a 100 percent “made in France” product.
In its workshops in Saint-Etienne, equipped with the latest generation digital looms, BV Sport manufactures shorts, stockings and compression socks, which promote recovery and reduce the risk of tendonitis and muscle damage.
>The company counts among its customers names as prestigious as the French football and rugby teams, Paris Saint-Germain, Olympique de Marseille or Arsenal… Saint-Etienne, recalls the owner of the company Salvatore Corona, is the French capital of textile compression, with names like Thuasne, Gibaud, Sigvaris… and BV Sport. If the first three are mainly present in products for medical use, the youngest has chosen to specialize in sport.
And this from the start: one of the founders – two angiologists – was none other than Michaël Prüfer, gold medalist in speed skiing at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Alberville.
>“For the deep veins of athletes, you need a different compression tool than the traditional varicose stockings,” explains Corona. “Dr. Prüfer made it the subject of his thesis and filed a patent”.