When we started POPSTRAP, the obvious move was to outsource production overseas. Cheaper, faster, lower minimum orders. We chose the opposite. Here is why every strap is still made in France, and what that actually means for what you wear.
Every POPSTRAP cage strap built for the Royal Pop — the 40mm Swatch × Audemars Piguet pocket-watch released in May 2026 — leaves this Loiret workshop, never a Shenzhen line. That decision is exactly what lets us hold the ±0.2mm tolerance the Royal Pop case demands.
The decision
Silicone straps for watches are a commodity. The market is dominated by factories in Shenzhen and Bangkok churning out millions of units per year, sold at €5–15 wholesale, marked up to €30–60 retail. The shortcut to a functioning business is clear.
We picked the slow road for three reasons:
- Material quality. French and European silicone-grade specs are tighter, especially on plasticizer content and skin-contact certifications.
- Geometry tolerance. The cage that wraps the 40mm Swiss pocket-watch head needs to be ±0.2mm to clip without forcing the case. That is hard to control at high volume.
- Iteration speed. When we needed to tweak the inner cage radius mid-production, we drove 90 minutes south of Paris instead of waiting six weeks for a sample shipment.
The workshop
Our partner is a small family-owned mold shop in the Loiret region. They have been working with silicone and TPE for two generations — originally for medical and automotive parts, more recently for accessories.
The workflow:
- Silicone batches are mixed and degassed on-site.
- Each strap is injection-molded in dedicated POPSTRAP tooling.
- Flash is trimmed by hand. Quality control on every single unit.
- UV-resistance and tear tests are done on random batches.
What "Made in France" actually means here
Some brands stamp "Made in France" on a product that is assembled in France. That is not us. The silicone, the tooling, the molding, the finishing, and the QC all happen in France.
It costs more
Honestly, yes. A POPSTRAP at €130 is around 3× what a comparable silicone strap costs at retail. We can not compete on price, and we do not try to. We compete on:
- The fit on the specific 40mm Swiss watch head — no other brand goes this deep on a single reference.
- The silicone feel, which stays the same after years (cheaper silicone hardens).
- The fact that 100% of the value chain stays in France.
What is next
Drop 02 is already in mold prep. Same workshop, new geometry. Shop Drop 01 while it is still here — closed edition, no restock.