Founded in the Drôme, the Eldera brand will take over from Nike to equip FC Sochaux-Montbéliard in the summer of 2023. We present this family SME, which already works in rugby, handball and cycling, and which will take its first steps in professional football.
The contract is signed for 5 seasons.
From the summer of 2023, FC Sochaux-Montbéliard players will no longer wear Nike-branded jerseys. Instead of the American giant, the French brand Eldera appears on the yellow and blue tunics.
It is a great pleasure to be able to collaborate from next season with a French brand in full development. We are confident that we can continue to grow together with Eldera in a win-win arrangement.
Samuel Laurent, director general of FCSMClub press release
If Eldera is unknown in the pro football battalion, the French brand has already made a name for itself in other sports.
Currently equips the Montois stadium (Landes), protagonist of the ProD2 rugby championship, 2nd national level. Eldera also works with Valence-Romans Drôme Rugby, which plays in the national team (French 3rd tier), and has already collaborated with several other rugby clubs: Oyonnax, Montauban, Albi, Bourgoin…
The Drôme brand also equips the Valencia handball clubwhich plays in the Proligue, 2nd national level, where it crosses the GBDH (Grand Besançon Doubs Handball).
Eldera also supplies the “non-racial fabrics” of the French cycling federation. When defending champion Julian Alaphilippe presents his ambitions to the press before the world road championships in Australia, he wears an Eldera suit.
Eldera has been responding to competitions in professional football for some years, but “sparingly”Florian Noyer, director of Eldera who deals in particular with partnerships, tells us on the phone : “Before we didn’t feel capable. We were looking for an emblematic club that matched our values. Football is very competitive. We are entering the big leagues. Nothing is simple, but we work for it. It’s not an end, it’s a logical continuation.”
The continuation of an adventure begun in 1989 by Florian’s father, Philippe Noyer. Initially the company distributes an Italian brand. In 2008 Eldera, an anagram of “boss”, is launched. Today, the company employs 28 people near Montelimar, Puy Saint-Martin, in the Drôme.
If Eldera puts forward the tricolor flag, future FCSM players’ outfits will be made overseas. “Everything is designed, engineered, stored, shipped and invoiced by usexplains Florian Noyer. Producing in France concerns us, interests us, but there is an economic reality : the final customer will buy a product four times more expensive because it is produced in France ?”
As FC Sochaux-Montbéliard indicates in its communicated, “Eldera will supply all Sochaux teams, from professionals to youth and women, with their kits and accessories for matches, training and leisure.” Some items will be made in Eastern Europe, others in Italy, still others, including parkas and suitcases, in China or Pakistan.
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Naturally, FC Sochaux will be Eldera’s showcase for years to come. It’s a real pleasure, but also a real responsibility. This will allow us to showcase our know-how, gain notoriety and credibility.
Florian nutChief of Eldera
Eldera’s know-how is above all that of being able to offer FCSM “a range of products with the identity of the club, with the certainty of designing the shirt they want”says Florian Noyer.
So this new shirt, what will it look like ? Of course, it’s still too early to reveal a visual. “It’s almost finishedsays the equipment manufacturer. We have been working on product development for several months. We are in the final stage of validation.”
The leader of the Drôme does not hide it: “there is necessarily also a financial aspect”. Between Nike and the SME of Puy-Saint-Martin, the sound and stumbling desires are not really comparable. Then the “win-win deal” praised by the club management.
For Florian Noyer, FC Sochaux-Montbéliard and Eldera are above all “two similar entities : two ambitious little ones, in the middle of the big ones”.
