What Le Laboureur is known for

Le Laboureur makes traditional workwear at its workshop in Digoin, in France's Saône-et-Loire department. Its range includes work jackets and largeot trousers, with garments intended for tradespeople as well as customers drawn to workwear. The manufacturer lists stockists on its website and offers booked visits that explain the workshop's cutting and assembly processes.

Le Laboureur ('The Ploughman') began in the early 1950s when Primo Zélanti started selling agricultural work clothing at fairs and markets across the Burgundy region of France. The business formalized around 1956 and grew into a manufacturing workshop, moving to larger premises on the Rue des Chantiers in Digoin, Burgundy, in 1973 as demand increased. The original product line was built around clothing for farm work — the veste de travail, or work jacket, in particular — before expanding to cover garments for building-trade workers as well, while keeping the same basic approach: simple, durable, functional clothing rather than fashion-led design.

Primo's son Jean-Charles Zélanti took over as head of the company in 1988 and ran it for three decades. In 2019, ownership passed outside the founding family for the first time, acquired by Jean Copleutre — a carpenter trained through the Compagnons du Devoir, France's traditional craft guild system — together with his brother Vianney.

Le Laboureur still manufactures in Digoin and continues to make the moleskin and cotton-twill work jackets, trousers and overalls that defined its original agricultural customer base.