A French company, born in Nice, turned towards the world

Plouf is a French brand, innovative, family-owned, proud of its Nice roots, but also open to the world.

The products Plouf are sold directly in several countries, distributed and recognized for their unique textile expertise.

Beyond the numbers, there is our ambition: to make aquatic safety and well-being accessible to everyone.

A story of textiles and ingenuity

Before Plouf, there was GREYSTONE.

Founded in 1981 by Alain Belkadi, an expert and visionary of French textiles, Greystone worked for the largest distributors. The company supported brands, innovated, tested, and improved. For nearly 20 years, it developed a recognized expertise for its rigor, technique, and demand.

Then one day, an industrial error changed everything.

In an Italian factory, an engineer injected too many micro air bubbles into a batch of hollow synthetic fibers. Rather than recycle it, this fiber was studied and tested. This "failed" material actually held incredible potential: it is lightweight, ergonomic, resistant... and it floats.

This is how the FibreAir®, a fiber composed of 97% micro air bubbles, patented in 2000, was born. A French innovation that would make sense a few years later.

The (re)birth of Plouf

For a long time, the FibreAir® remained a technology waiting for application.

It was tested and analyzed before finally being understood: this fiber can save lives.

In 2019, Sandy Niddam, girl of Alain Belkadi, arrived. She resumed her studies at 39 to train in digital marketing and faced the field. She then revived Plouf, a brand that was dormant in the family boxes. Plouf then becomes the first brand in the world to integrate the FibreAir® into a swimwear bath designed to make children float, without armbands, without buoys, without inflation. Attention, even with this innovative device, a child who is swimming must always be under adult supervision.

The swimwear bath Plouf is then a revolution:

• It helps children to float naturally
• It accompanies them in their learning
• It leaves the arms free and allows total freedom of movement
• It helps to reduce fear and apprehension of water
• It offers autonomy to children and serenity to parents

Discover our swimsuits floaters for children

Very quickly, in 2022, Plouf becomes an official partner of the Swimming Academy, an official supplier of the French Swimming Federation and supports each year the national operation "Learn to Swim" of the Ministry of Sports.

Plouf is no longer just a brand, it's a mission.

A simple but essential mission: to secure swimming and prevent drowning.

 

Safety Concept: offering adults the confidence that children already had

A question keeps coming up: "And for adults?". The needs are immense:

• Adults who can't swim
• People who no longer dare to enter the water
• Those who want to stay active
• Athletes in rehabilitation
• People suffering from pain, shortness of breath, apprehension…

All these people have one thing in common:  they want to enjoy the water without fear.

This is how Safety Concept by Plouf was born, the adult range also using the FibreAir® to offer support, comfort, autonomy, and safety in the water.

The Floating swimsuit for adults quickly becomes a success and is now recognized as health equipment. It even attracts healthcare players: the brand is now official partner of Carsat Sud-Est which covers 100% of the swimsuits floats under the OSCAR package.

The ambition is clear: to make swimming accessible to everyone, at all ages and physical conditions.

Discover our floating items for adults

 

Safety Concept Pro: textile innovation for experts

After families.

After adults.

The FibreAir® can still make a difference in a new field: professionals.

These experts are looking for lightweight, durable, ergonomic equipment that can enhance their safety without compromising their freedom of movement.

Plouf then integrates the FibreAir® into floating garments (quarter jacket and suit) for professionals, designed as real personal protective equipment (PPE) :

🛟 Indestructible, ergonomic, thermoresistant, waterproof, durable over time… and above all naturally buoyant.

These garments do not replace a life jacket and should never be used as such, but they offer additional buoyancy, valuable support, and significant mobility in demanding conditions.

Discover our professional equipment

What we really do

We manufacture floating items. We produce fibers. We innovate in textiles.

But above all, we offer people what is priceless :

• The courage to enter the water
• The peace of mind seeing their child safe
• The freedom to move without fear
• The confidence to try again
• The pleasure simple to float

That's it, Plouf.

That's why we exist.

And the story is just beginning.

Discover our FibreAirⓇ, as well as our floating range production line and the European Standards of our floating garments for children and adults.