On their wedding day in 1993, Philippe and Lilian Jacquelinet decided that their future together would include the launch of Captain Tortue – based on the idea of creating an original children’s clothes range to be sold through private sales in homes.

The wedding presents included the Captain Tortue logo, the company registration and a chartered accountant for a year!

The first show took place with great success in Burgundy in 1993.

The company started in the spare bedroom, with a huge amount of enthusiasm and determination as well as the complimentary skills of Philippe (ESC Dijon, with expertise and experience in textile purchasing and large scale distribution) and Lilian (a Dutch stylist with extensive background of designing children’s clothes). The adventure took off and Captain Tortue is now the undisputed leader in direct sales of children’s clothes.

In 1997 the company moved from Nimes to Aix en Provence. After years of rapid but controlled growth (turnover increased three fold from 1999 to 2002), Captain Tortue moved into a new 2000 m2 head office, prepared and ready for future growth.
 
There are now 30 permanent staff members in Aix en Provence, supporting the sales force of more than 1800 consultants, 50 managers and 5 regional managers.