The French luxury goods associations Comite Colbert added Leica Camera as a member. This is the about paragraph taken from Comite Colbert website:
“Founded in 1954 at the initiative of Jean-Jacques Guerlain, the Comité Colbert, an association governed by the French law of 1901, has a membership of 75 houses of French luxury whose object is to collectively promote their shared values in France and internationally. Their quest is to combine tradition and modernity, craftsmanship and creativity, history and innovation.”
Some of the other members are Hermes, Chanel, Givenchy, YSL, Lacoste and other luxury brand names. Here is the press release from Leica Camera AG:
Solms, Germany (July 5, 2011) – Leica Camera AG announces that it has been inducted into the renowned French Comité Colbert as a European member in June 2011. The economic alliance, founded in 1954, represents French premium enterprises and is aimed at creating a deeper understanding of the values manufacturers in the premium segment share in France, Europe, and worldwide. These shared values include a sense of tradition, modernity, craftsmanship, creativity, history and innovation.
Many members of the Comité Colbert have been pioneers in their field and can look back to a proud decades- or century-long history of their brands. French brands such as Chanel, Baccarat, Bollinger, Château Lafite-Rothschild, Dior, Hermès, Lacoste, Lancôme, Longchamp and Louis Vuitton are members of this exclusive alliance. Since 2010, selected manufacturers from other European countries have been invited to participate. In addition to Leica Camera AG, Montblanc has become a new member from Germany.
“Leica can look back to more than 150 years of long tradition and has always been, and still is, the pioneer in developing optical devices of highest quality,” said Alfred Schopf, Leica Camera AG’s Chairman of the Board. “Engineering ingenuity, technical know-how and craftsmanship applied during the whole manufacturing process give our products their unique characters. All the lenses for our professional Leica S camera system and for the Leica M, our range-finder camera system, are made in Solms by hand. So, we fulfill our aspiration of creating the prerequisites for better images day by day.”
“Being appointed a member of the exclusive Comité Colbert circle has been a great honor to Leica Camera AG that reflects the exceptional status of the Leica brand among European premium manufacturers,” said Dr. Andreas Kaufmann, Leica Camera AG’s Chairman of the Supervisory Board and its major shareholder. “Leica Camera AG is committed to the premium segment’s high demands concerning value, design, and exclusivity and we are very pleased to get the chance to build network connections within this renowned circle.”
Leica Camera AG
Leica Camera AG is a premium manufacturer of cameras and sports optics equipment operating in the international market. The foundation of the Leica myth has been laid by the long-established company’s optical instruments. Combined with innovative technologies, they have been, and still are, providing for the better image in all situations concerning vision and perception. The headquarters of Leica Camera AG are located in the Hessian town of Solms while Vila Nova de Famalicão, Portugal, is its other manufacturing base. The company has representative offices of its own in England, France, Japan, Singapore, Switzerland, and the USA. New, groundbreaking products have advanced the company’s positive developments in the last years.
