Along a stretch of the Atlantic coastline in France’s Basque country that is a magnet for surfers, the expression of regional identity has become a sartorial matter of choice.
With its own language and culture, the Basque country, comprising northern Spain and south-west France, is often associated, especially on the Spanish side, with its struggle for territorial independence.
Now, people on the French side of the border are wearing their identity on their sleeve. Or, at least through other fashion details of their clothes, thanks to a half dozen “Made in Basque’ labels.
But not only are the clothes, which tend to be casual or sportswear, made in the region spanning the city of Bayonne and Hendaye, a town 40km away, but they also openly display clues to their ‘Basque-ness”.
“Our style is a sportswear which celebrates the art of living on the Basque coast,” said Denis Wargnier, co-founder and boss of the label “64”, one of the frontrunners of the trend.
With the number 64 written inside a circle adorning each item, the company, set up in 1997 in Guethary, chose the postcode of the Pyrenees-Atlantiques region, or French department where it is located, as its emblem.
Its clothing range comes in soft tones and fabrics with patterns designed to reflect local themes, such as the famed Espelette chilli pepper or the “pottok” semi-wild pony native to the Pyrenees of the Basque country in France and Spain.
“64” currently has about 20 shops throughout south-west France, as well as one in Paris and another in Madrid, and employs 70 people, posting a turnover of almost â,¬20-million an annual increase of about 10%, Wargnier said.
Its parent company, Bil Toki, has officially registered the brand — 64 inside a circle — and even done the same for about another 30 French departments in a bid to stave off copycats.
Another French Basque country label is “Biper Gorri”, meaning red chilli in the Baque language, which takes a light-hearted approach to its designs — T-shirts with Jesus playing Basque pelota, a ball game, for example.
Antoine Maury (39), head of the brand set up in 1999 and which posts an annual turnover of more than â,¬400Â 000, puts the increase in Basque sportswear labels down to the “presence here of big surf labels”.
Large United States and Australian surf wear companies have opted to base their European head offices on the Basque coast or south of Landes, the forest region bordering the Bay of Biscay.
And the presence of the companies, such as Quiksilver, Rip Curl or Billabong in those areas has encouraged the development of a local know-how in graphic concept and design, said Maury, who formerly worked for Quiksilver.
“Y” is another Basque label, born as a result of a joke dating from last spring between supporters at a rugby match between the two big Basque rival teams, Biarritz and Bayonne.
Fans of the Bayonne team had written the rival team’s title in large letters on the stadium wall, “Biarritz Olympique Pays Basque” (Olympic Biarritz Basque Country), only missing off the letter ‘Y’.
Consequently, instead, the name of the team read “Biarritz Olympique Pas Basque” meaning Olympic Biarritz Not Basque, provoking sniggers among the Aviron Bayonnais supporters who consider their team to be the only true Basque one.
So, Anthony Hatoig had the idea of using the missing “Y” as a T-shirt label and turning it into a kind of new symbol of Basque-ness.
“This is not identity activism, but a wink at rugby lovers and lovers of Bayonne,” the 24-year-old commented. — AFP