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'The French people want to save us': help pours in for glassmaker Duralex

theguardian.com

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Re: 'The French people want to save us': help pours in for glassmaker Duralex

#31

Post by simlevesque »

pjerem wrote: post #6

The article mentions it, but don’t insist on it. Duralex is now quite a special company: they were a renowned and beloved brand that was heading toward bankruptcy, until last year when the company was bought by its own workers and turned into a cooperative. Since then, they have stayed afloat, probably thanks mainly to people wanting to support a worker-owned business by buying their glasses, but still, it works. It’…

It's also because almost every french home has one of their glasses and they are good quality.

So it's a mix of history, tradition, enjoying good products, the pride you get from your country producing good products.

Re: 'The French people want to save us': help pours in for glassmaker Duralex

#32

Post by griffzhowl »

GuB-42 wrote: post #9
chihuahua wrote: post #3

While there is no shortage of irrelevant details, the article is very light on relevant details. What prevents the factory from staying in business? Not enough orders? The French people supposedly love this glassware and orders pour in whenever the company is mentioned. They have the factory up and running, they have employees. The workers own the means of production, what could be better than that? Why do they need…

As a French, my guess is simply that the brand is not price competitive and up until now, they didn't have the right marketing to justify the higher prices. Duralex is a beloved brand, and the French wouldn't like to see it go, but not enough to have much of an influence in the shopping aisle. The nostalgia aspect is real (ask the French about the numbers at the bottom of the glass ;) ), but it may be a negative when…

Yes, we had them in school in the UK too. Just had a flashback to the number at the bottom of the glass

Re: 'The French people want to save us': help pours in for glassmaker Duralex

#33

Post by dano »

During a trip to Venice I had the good fortune of touring http://www.giuman.it/ and it was highly educational. Bringing the furnaces up to temperature takes time and turning them off each day isn't a good option. Gas comes primarily from Russia and price spikes have really hurt the business.

Re: 'The French people want to save us': help pours in for glassmaker Duralex

#34

Post by Cyph0n »

griffzhowl wrote: post #30
sigmoid10 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a reason why worker owned companies (which were quite prevalent and a key factor in the 20th century's socialist movements) did not survive in our capitalist world. If we want to see these kinds of companies thrive, we need to change the entire market philosophy. Otherwise they will always be out-competed by companies that favour revenue/profit over worker benefits. In fact they will not even take off in the…

They did survive. There are thousands in Spain and Italy especially. One of the most well-known is the Mondragon Corporation from the Basque country, one of Spain's largest comanies: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondragon_Corporation

I am particularly interested in coops as a model for a tech startup. How would one go about structuring a new corporation to best ensure it remains a coop?

Re: 'The French people want to save us': help pours in for glassmaker Duralex

#36

Post by enaaem »

GuB-42 wrote: post #9
chihuahua wrote: post #3

While there is no shortage of irrelevant details, the article is very light on relevant details. What prevents the factory from staying in business? Not enough orders? The French people supposedly love this glassware and orders pour in whenever the company is mentioned. They have the factory up and running, they have employees. The workers own the means of production, what could be better than that? Why do they need…

As a French, my guess is simply that the brand is not price competitive and up until now, they didn't have the right marketing to justify the higher prices. Duralex is a beloved brand, and the French wouldn't like to see it go, but not enough to have much of an influence in the shopping aisle. The nostalgia aspect is real (ask the French about the numbers at the bottom of the glass ;) ), but it may be a negative when…

Here you can buy 250 ml glasses for 1.39 Euro a piece. Even cheaper for sets. I’m not sure how cheap we need glasses to be?

Re: 'The French people want to save us': help pours in for glassmaker Duralex

#37

Post by KetoManx64 »

sigmoid10 wrote: post #24
pjerem wrote: post #6

The article mentions it, but don’t insist on it. Duralex is now quite a special company: they were a renowned and beloved brand that was heading toward bankruptcy, until last year when the company was bought by its own workers and turned into a cooperative. Since then, they have stayed afloat, probably thanks mainly to people wanting to support a worker-owned business by buying their glasses, but still, it works. It’…

There's a reason why worker owned companies (which were quite prevalent and a key factor in the 20th century's socialist movements) did not survive in our capitalist world. If we want to see these kinds of companies thrive, we need to change the entire market philosophy. Otherwise they will always be out-competed by companies that favour revenue/profit over worker benefits. In fact they will not even take off in the…

The main they don't survive is not due to capitalism. (Capitalism is just trade without use of force at the end of the day) but due to the lobbying power of corporations. Corporations constantly lobby the government for more regulation and rules, which they just budget for, but smaller companies don't have the funds to meet so they cannot stay in business. Look at the first couple of years of COVID for example, Walmart, Target and the big box stores lobbied the government to stay open because they were "essential" while all the small businesses got wiped out due to their lack of lobbying power.

The solution is to stop giving corporations the ability to lobby governments, and stop using the government to control/fund markets. Not to blame it on capitalism.

Re: 'The French people want to save us': help pours in for glassmaker Duralex

#39

Post by cgearhart »

I have bought a lot of glassware over a couple decades. My usual trick is to look at restaurant supply shops, since they usually have a wide variety to select trade offs in style, price, quality, etc. Somehow I’d never come across Duralex until a few months ago when I was shopping to reorganize my own cupboards. The Duralex stuff I got has been the best glassware I’ve ever had, hands down. I’ll probably order more to put in storage just in case their ongoing struggles disrupt availability in the future.

I get it—they’re expensive and so on—but they really are a superior product.

Re: 'The French people want to save us': help pours in for glassmaker Duralex

#40

Post by throw-the-towel »

simlevesque wrote: post #31
pjerem wrote: post #6

The article mentions it, but don’t insist on it. Duralex is now quite a special company: they were a renowned and beloved brand that was heading toward bankruptcy, until last year when the company was bought by its own workers and turned into a cooperative. Since then, they have stayed afloat, probably thanks mainly to people wanting to support a worker-owned business by buying their glasses, but still, it works. It’…

It's also because almost every french home has one of their glasses and they are good quality. So it's a mix of history, tradition, enjoying good products, the pride you get from your country producing good products.

And not only homes. I moved to France several months ago, and I keep seeing the Duralex mark in cafes, at my workplace, basically everywhere.
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