INTERVIEW
Design and development. Zefal manufactures 60% of its products in France For our distributors, this means much shorter lead times,
greater flexibility and the ability to react quickly to market demand. We can replenish stock faster, adapt production when needed and maintain a high level of product availability throughout the season. In recent years, many distributors have realised that reliability and responsiveness are just as valuable as purchase price. Local manufacturing gives us much greater control over quality, production planning and delivery performance.
With global freight costs fluctuating, has the conversation with retailers and distributors shifted from “who has the lowest unit cost” to “who can actually guarantee delivery”? How is Zéfal capitalising on this? Absolutely. The last few years have shown that the cheapest product is not necessarily the most profitable if it cannot be delivered on time. Retailers and distributors increasingly value suppliers who provide consistency, predictable lead times and reliable service. One of our strengths is that Zéfal is a family-owned, independent company with a strong financial position. That allows us to make long-term decisions without being driven by short-term financial indicators. For example, we can
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deliberately maintain higher inventory levels to guarantee product availability and absorb fluctuations in demand or supply.
Combined with our European manufacturing, this enables us to reduce transport risks, respond much more quickly than suppliers relying exclusively on long-distance imports, and provide our partners with greater confidence throughout the season. Ultimately, our objective is not to be the lowest-cost supplier, but to be the most dependable long-term partner. In today’s market, reliability has become a real competitive advantage.
The gravel and bikepacking sectors have matured, and Zéfal’s luggage ranges have expanded significantly to meet this. What is your R&D team focusing on for this segment over the next 12–18 months? We believed in the potential of bikepacking from the very beginning, long before it became one of the fastest- growing segments in cycling. As a team, we were already riding this way ourselves — long-distance, self-supported, off the beaten track — so rather than researching a trend from the outside, we designed the bags we needed for our
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