In La Chapelle-Saint-Mesmin (Loiret), in the suburbs of Orléans, concern has been high since the announcement of the request for the opening of a judicial recovery procedure by the company Duralex. For the 230 employees, as for the entire territory, this jewel of made in France shines across borders.
However, the glassmaker founded in 1945, inventor of tempered glass and numbered cups popular with generations of schoolchildren in the canteen, has survived many storms. Including the Covid-19 crisis, from which it recovered with 30 million euros in turnover in 2023 compared to 23 million in 2022. The improvement was short-lived. The fatal blow? The explosion in energy and gas prices, linked to the war in Ukraine. The factory may have put its oven on standby and placed its employees on partial unemployment to lower its bills, but this was not enough, despite the 15 million euros in aid granted by the State.
