A partner of Arnaud Boissières in the Imoca class since 2015, La Mie Câline, a Vendée-based franchise network (€200 million in turnover, 235 stores nationwide, employing approximately 2,500 people), has announced “the end of this chapter”. Its CEO, David Giraudeau, explains the move to Sailorz.
Can you explain why you decided to end your sailing sponsorship with Arnaud Boissières?
This decision has nothing to do with the quality of the person or the partnership. We had been committed to Arnaud for ten years; we completed three Vendée Globes together. Our partnership was always clear in the sense that we knew very well we weren’t going for the win. The idea, however, was to ensure La Mie Câline gained brand awareness, that our franchisees and employees felt a sense of belonging and pride in following Arnaud, and, incidentally, that it helped promote La Mie Câline as a local business. That was indeed the case for those ten years.
Why stop now, then?
It so happens that since 2023, we have been faced with inflation management that became complicated on all levels. This very clearly placed us in an economic model that is less flourishing than what we knew before and forced us to tighten the screws across the board. While still positive, the group’s results have contracted. Given that 2025 has been somewhat lackluster and the partnership reached its term on December 31, we took the decision not to continue investing in elements that are “non-essential” for the company. It’s a reality: when you have to refine your management in every area of the business, sponsorship inevitably comes up for discussion, and you ask yourself if it’s really reasonable to set off on another four-year campaign when we have little visibility on the country’s economic health. It is a rational managerial decision. All the measures we have taken must help us continue to achieve results and thus allow us to resume investments in the future.
Did you explore other options, such as staying on as a partner but with a lower level of commitment?
No, because as a local retail brand, the idea was truly to be the number one sponsor of the boat. I have colleagues who operate in B2B and can certainly support the boat in a complementary way, but for us, that wasn’t an option at all.
“A profitable and
interesting investment”
Does the current political and economic climate, both national and international, make this type of investment even more complicated today?
Everything contributes to this difficulty right now. What is important for a company is to have—not certainties—but a certain number of tangible elements to project into the future. Over the last three years, between a 40% increase in the price of certain raw materials, energy costs that are skyrocketing and erratic, and a tax system that never stops changing—one thing on Tuesday, another on Wednesday—it doesn’t encourage drawing a reliable roadmap for the future at all. By default, what you do in these cases—and I think this applies to household budgets too—is to abstain, to wait, to eventually get a better reading on things later. Currently, there are no indicators suggesting that tomorrow will be greener than today.
For La Mie Câline, how much will ending this partnership “save”? Around one million euros per year?
It’s more around €400,000 to €500,000 on average, bearing in mind that in a Vendée Globe year, you will inevitably spend more than in a Transat Café L’Or year.
You are stopping sailing sponsorship; what is your assessment of these ten years in terms of impact for La Mie Câline? And would you advise other companies to invest in sailing?
If you want a big number, I would say that such a partnership returns about twice the initial stake in terms of media impact—two and a half times in a Vendée Globe year, one and a half times in a Transat Café L’Or year. So it remains a profitable and interesting investment. Sailing is a sport that is both accessible and free of “shadowy” areas. If you look at cycling, which is also interesting for brand promotion, it is now overpriced and, furthermore, has a few dark spots that don’t sit well with us. Conversely, sailing is relatively untainted; it is a clean sport of adventure and humility that checks many boxes. So yes, if there are people looking to get into sponsorship, I would advise them to go for it.
Contacted this week by Sailorz for a reaction to the announcement and to discuss the future of his Imoca project—he purchased Benjamin Dutreux’s former Guyot Environnement (a 2015 VPLP-Verdier design) last year—Arnaud Boissières did not wish to add more than what was in the La Mie Câline press release, which “speaks for itself.” He added that he hoped to “share an update soon to announce the season and the new name of the boat,” concluding: “I remain confident.”
Image : Jean-Louis Carli / Alea
