Cycling is fantastic. In the literary sense of the word. It's a world where the real and the supernatural mingle. A world of legends and icons. Mountains and wonders. Dungeons and dragons. So when you're about to meet Émile Mercier, the second of that name, nephew of another Émile, founder of Cycles Mercier, you're in cinemascope. You expect to talk to the man who has seen and experienced it all with his famous pink bicycles. A childhood on the side of the road, on board the caravan, evenings jumping on Uncle Poulidor's lap... The fantasy, the fantasy of the cycling world. And then there was life, the real thing. ‘Mum worked at Cycles Mercier and Dad was no longer there. He died when I was three. So when I was a kid, Mum used to send us to scout camps in the summer. It was on the shores of Lake Annecy. A calm and reassuring place. So we saw the Tour de France from a great distance. I only remember one time when my uncle came to pick me up to watch a stage in Aix-Les-Bains. But those were very rare occasions. Well, that's not much of a story to start with, but the truth is, as a kid, I was pretty far removed from it all. The legend takes a hit. It gives way to a story that is less fantastic, but so much richer... and so much more memorable.

DC power and pocket money

Despite his childhood distance from cycling, it was cycling that shaped Émile Mercier's destiny. Cycling gave him self-sacrifice and willpower. Never give up, never give up in the face of difficulty. Fatherless, Émile became an orphan in his teens when his mother died. But the youngest of six siblings doesn't give up. After graduating from business school, he embarked on a career in the textile industry, went on to work for major cosmetics brands, dabbled in finance and still does marketing consultancy work today. And cycling. All the time. On direct current. With no breaks, despite the hard times. ‘I cycled a lot in my youth. Around Saint-Étienne. Cyclosportives and all that. I also got involved with cycling through my summer jobs at Mercier. Before she left us, my mother had given the impetus. Working at the factory. These were small jobs. Things that didn't require a huge amount of know-how, but it gave me a sense of and respect for certain values. I was taken under the wing of the financial director. He made me fill in forms. I was also in charge of a very special assignment. We received letters at the factory with press cuttings sent by amateurs who had made the podium at the weekend on a Mercier bike. In exchange, we'd send them a cheque! It was 30 francs if they came first, 20 francs if they came second, and so on. But what young Émile loved most of all was hanging around the workshops. He was fascinated by the soldering and brazing of frames. Watching and admiring what goes on in the paint booths, with the precise, regular gestures of enamelling. ‘But as I didn't have the technical background, I was stuck assembling wheels or working in the international shipping department. By the 1960s-1970s, the factory was running at full capacity. Except that everything is cyclical in the cycle industry. Mercier bicycles gradually lost ground to the competition, until they lost face for good. The company went bankrupt in 1985. Emile watched helplessly as the story came to an end, but did not give up.

Name and fame

Even though the Mercier name has disappeared from the racetrack, it retains its aura and magnetism. In all objectivity, my father and my uncle were really good from the start,’ emphasises Émile Mercier. Émile and Marcel very quickly had the intuition to bring Mercier into the world of major competitions and even though accounting was a very secret business at the time, the racing department was self-sufficient. Basically, the sponsorship of the team didn't cost the company any money. Apart from supplying the bikes, the other expenses were covered by the partners: Hutchinson, BP, Fagor, Miko, Gan and so on. So the business model was sound, and that went a long way to attracting riders - and good ones! Mercier kept its racing department for decades, so the name was very strong. That's why the name has stuck in our collective memory. Of course, the fact that Raymond Poulidor rode a Mercier in his heyday helped to burnish the brand's reputation. But the other point to emphasise is the presence of an international contingent in the various Mercier teams. Very early on, the company signed riders from abroad: Dutch, German, Belgian, Irish, so many reasons for the brand to shine outside French borders. 

An unmistakeable recovery

A name like that, it would have been a shame to let it fall into oblivion or, worse still, to tuck it away in the great history books of cycling. Émile Mercier still retains ownership rights and, in 2019, alongside Alexis Descollonges, he is relaunching Mercier in the form of a line of cycling clothing. ‘Without wanting to sound too theatrical, I don't think the word ‘mission’ is excessive. It's true that when I set out on this, it wasn't reasonable... But you have to understand, Mercier's disappearance had affected me a lot. I was bruised, humiliated and ashamed. So, with the arrival of Mercier textiles, I don't want to talk about revenge, but I wanted to give a nod to my whole family. But there was a wolf in the story. A trap to be avoided at all costs. The temptation (or the ease?) of going for vintage. Bringing out the old Mercier, making something new out of something old. The partners Mercier and Descollonges had observed the revival of certain brands, certain glories of the past, only to see the decline that often followed. ‘We needed technically interesting products that were beyond reproach, but above all modern’. On this point, there was no mistaking it: the ‘new’ brand immediately enlisted the services of an artistic director, just to get off to a good start. This was reflected in the choice of a precise colour code, with a simple historical reference to the famous Mercier crown. A furtive nod to the past in a resolutely contemporary design.

Knowing how to ride a bike

To work in cycling, you have to be a cyclist yourself,’ admits Émile Mercier without batting an eyelid. But that doesn't mean you can't do stupid things,’ he corrects immediately afterwards. We had the idea of making indoor cycling shorts, special home trainer shorts. The product was technically very advanced, magnificent, very sophisticated... but it was useless! Why was it useless? Because nobody wants to spend 150 quid on something they'll never see! In fact, if you're going to do a session on your home trainer, you can just take an old pair of shorts, cut off the straps and off you go! There's no need to spend a fortune! You learn from your mistakes’, admits Émile. This allows us to refocus on a key area of growth: producing textiles that are as perfect and impeccable as Mercier frames. And, let's face it, I'm a bit of a sandwich man,’ he smiles. I carry the brand inside me, I'm its showcase. So much so that he has kept some of the advertising prints dating back to the launch of Mercier in the 1920s. The image features portraits of the three brothers and a small text extolling the seriousness of the company: ‘impeccable supervision with no overheads’, before ending with a rather original motto: BIEN FAIRE ET LAISSER DIRE (do the right thing and let others do the talking). More than a motto, it's a guiding principle for the descendant of the Mercier brothers.

Doing the right thing and let others do the talking

‘I lost my father, my mother and my brother in quick succession. He and I were two years apart, and I thought of him as my twin brother. He left when I was 17. In the face of all that, it was sport that saved me. I could have been a fool but I wanted to live for them. I was brought up in a culture of effort and cycling was part of that. You don't cheat when you're on a bike,’ says Émile Mercier calmly. ‘In the end, you're alone on your bike. It's a school of humility, and it's also a school of management. His speech is limpid and avoids no grey areas. Both his personal life and that of his company. Its director recognises that the Mercier brand version 2.0 still needs to grow. Strengthen its in-store presence and work on online sales. Get away from the post-Covid era and overstocking by retailers. Do the right thing and let it be known, or at least give ourselves a little more time. But above all, live with the times. Émile embraces the bike of today in all its dimensions. ‘But for us, the most important thing is to see our customers happy on their bikes. So it doesn't matter whether they're riding on the road, gravel or an EV! I'm delighted to come across cyclists on electric bikes! There are people out there who would have stopped cycling or never even started! The same goes for gravel! It's a fantastic alternative to mountain biking or even road cycling! Cycling is great, and above all it's about doing what you want. And to talk about it freely, frankly. Émile Mercier may never have jumped on Uncle Poupou's lap (or had his grandson MVP jump on his), but there's something fantastic about talking to him.

The Mercier Jersey
In the great history of iconic cycling jerseys, those that have left their mark on people's minds, those that are still remembered today and worn with pride, we find the famous Mercier purple tunic, worn in particular by Raymond Poulidor in the 1960s. Here's how Émile Mercier explains his eternal success. ‘First of all, the choice of the colour purple was simply because it could be seen from a distance. It stood out from the crowd. There's also a story in the family that my uncle chose this colour because he liked violets and flowers. As for the yellow sleeves, I'm not sure if it was a reference to the yellow jersey. I think it was more a reference to the colour code of the BP brand.'

Mercier in a few key dates

1919
Establishment of the Manufacture Mercier in Saint-Étienne, France
1933
Mercier sponsors its first professional team
1957
Birth of Emile Mercier
1962
Raymond Poulidor wore the famous purple jersey with yellow sleeves of the Mercier-BP team during the Tour de France.
1985
End of Cycles Mercier's activities
2021
Launch of Mercier's first textiles collection