Shipyard visit / Developing a watch jacket, the specifications

Lionel de la Hosseraye, Tribord and Tanguy de Lamotte habitable sailing product manager © Bateaux.com

It is the product manager, through market research and brainstorming, who defines the product creation or evolution needs. We propose you to discover the job of product manager and the definition of the specifications of the Ocean 900 jacket.

Chloé Torterat Published on April 28, 2017

The job of product manager at Tribord with Lionel de la Hosseraye

Lionel de la Hosseraye is a habitable sailing product manager with the Tribord team. 50% of his time is devoted to identifying the needs of boaters. To do this, he goes with his team to the ports, to meet the sailors to observe their habits and understand their needs. He also practices with his team, and in company of his customers to test the products and collects many opinions of purchasers on the forums and through the site of Decathlon, which he presents as"a true gold mine". Finally, he works with the brand's 3 technical partners - Tanguy de Lamotte (IMOCA skipper), Ian Lipinski (Mini 6.50 skipper) and Nolwenn Cazé (Mini 6.50 skipper), who test the products in condition, to obtain feedback and make improvements.

To create a product, the brand starts from either a blank page or an existing product, to which improvements are made "At Tribord, we're more in the 2 ^e case in point. For 3 years, we've been collecting information and identifying with Tanguy the improvements we could make to the products." explains Lionel.

Lionel presents us the Ocean 900 jacket

Define the specifications of the Ocean 900 jacket

To sail, Tanguy de Lamotte needs a warm, waterproof, water-repellent and breathable watch jacket. The team and the skipper have therefore decided to upgrade the old"Ozean 900" version to make some improvements, particularly in terms of the height of the collar, the abrasiveness of the inner fabrics and the hood. Together, they also worked on the jacket Tanguy was wearing for his 2016 Vendée Globe, which was specially equipped with a waterproof latex collar (a development you won't find in stores, as it's not in demand enough).

Then comes the drafting of the specifications with the requested technicality. The product must be able to withstand an Atlantic crossing, be robust, resistant, breathable, but above all sold at a maximum price of 200 ? "You can develop anything, but first you have to think about the prices you don't want to spend" says Lionel.