Every year over 1000 new words become part of the dictionary in the world. Among these, only a few are brands: the world-famous ones. Brands that have influenced the customs and traditions of society so much as to become words in common use. And they hide, in their history, a part of the history of all of us.

- Gérard?

- Yes, mum

- Did you take your coat with you?

- Yes

- Take your scarf!

- Yes, mum

- Gérard, put your cap on

- Yes, mum

- Don't forget your gloves!

- Yes, mum

(VOICE OVER) DUHAMEL. It wasn't a sweater. It wasn't a waxed jacket. It was something new, people didn't know what to call it.

(VOICE OVER) BOGLIONE. A product that wasn't a raincoat or an umbrella to protect from the rain didn't exist. Therefore one day the K-Way was invented.

(VOICE OVER) DUHAMEL. One day I had an appointment in Paris. And I was waiting at the Café de la Paix. The weather was uncertain, I was sitting outside and I saw a woman with two children passing by. The two children were wearing red nylon clothes. Something original that I had never seen before. I picked up my notebook and wrote: red nylon clothes. One day I thought about it again, searched through my notes and told myself I had to do something about it.

Young, light, colourful: that image persisted in the young Duhamel's mind who understood then that times were changing. Encumbering umbrellas and heavy coats, hats, dark and severe clothes no longer represented the young generation.

(VOICE OVER) VOLLI. Up to the 60's and 70's there was one clothing paradigm only (in terms of unique, editor's note), which was elegant. From the 60's onwards what happened to adult fashion, the fashion for men in jackets and ties and women in skirts, was that another type of clothing, a model, a style, a series of things that are typical for young people, was set against it.

The young inventor, inspired by the new cultural climate that was about to change the world, started working immediately. Locked in at the back of his father's tailoring shop, he produced an article that would have been destined to become a celebrity: A simple and essentially-shaped jacket, made of nylon, colourful, waterproof, unisex. With a unique characteristic.

(VOICE OVER) DUHAMEL. At the time there was a pocket at the front. Manipulating it, I tucked it in there. Tucking it in, I had the idea. Instead of an outer envelope, if I tuck it in its pocket… They used to call it "en cas" (litterally: in case, editor's note),for rain. In French it is written E.N. – C.A.S. A solution that can be kept in a pocket in case of rain.

(VOICE OVER) BOGLIONE. En cas de... in case of... K-Way means exactly that: just in case. Something that you always carry around with you, even if you don't need it, in case you do.

(VOICE OVER) VOLLI. The key word is freedom, to be free to move, to be free eventually even to stretch out, to be free to put on and take off things without too much difficulty and formality.

That simple idea broke from the past and gave voice to a new world, like blue jeans, sneakers, chewing-gum. New myths that changed the desires and customs of society and that had a common denominator: they all came from the United States, the country-symbol of change. Because of this, it was necessary to make people believe that such an innovative jacket was American.

(VOICE OVER) DUHAMEL. The advertising agent, Mr. Castin, wanted an American name. We had to make people believe that it was an American product, that came from the United States. "It needs an American name, otherwise it will never sell".

The first advert with stars&stripes was ready, spaces in newspapers were booked, but a small detail was missing: the name to substitute the French "En cas de".

(VOICE OVER) DUHAMEL. Among the names suggested by Castin there was always the word way at the end. Because way was phonetically good. My father said: "You want your way, I want my en cas. Let's call it K-Way, what d'you say?" "Fantastic – Castin answered – it's ingenious: I am sure that it doesn't exist yet". Three minutes later the graphics was ready. And after that we set off: the brand had been created.

K-Way is the right name. Not too short, nor too long, easy to remember, international. But for a brand to become a world-famous brand it is not enough to have a brilliant idea and a suitable name. It also needs to have an extraordinary commercial success.

(VOICE OVER) DUHAMEL. The first year we sold 250.000 jackets. Absolutely extraordinary.

(VOICE OVER) VOLLI. A few brands managed to succeed more than others, catching the wave of the times, being in tune with the moment. And a few single products – K-Way was one of them.

(VOICE OVER) BOGLIONE. It was a great convenience, one of the greatest conveniences of the 60's & 70's, when the world brought to the market many innovative products that improved people's lives.

The story of K-Way is not only the story of a great commercial success, but also of a product that has become a symbol of the new way to live.

(VOICE OVER) VOLLI. The K-Way was a way to be recognised, to stand out, to show ones' own strong identity. And so from this point of view, it was not just an individual symbol, but also a collective one, that somehow we still carry with us: we all live in the context of a lighter garment, more wearable and reusable; from a certain point of view more sporty, more unisex, more fun and colourful than what was before the great revolution of youth.

Society rediscovered time off, sport, the contact with nature. And the idea of a practical and colourful light jacket that could be carried easily not only conquers the young generation. Who doesn't have in their family album at least one photograph of a school trip, a walk in the countryside or in the mountains wearing the small foldable-in-a-pouch jacket? It was so successful that K-Way became one of the most famous brands in the world.

(VOICE OVER) DUHAMEL. We were a very well-known brand. In France we were as famous as Renault. It was incredible!

A brand so famous as to become a reason for national pride.

(VOICE OVER) DUHAMEL. In 1980 the American Wrangler group came to us because they wanted to buy K-Way. We would have accepted. But at the time the Elisée had put a stop to the sale of K-Way to an American company.

- You see, I am wearing K-way too

- Please!?

- It's not the original

- This is the original one

Copied, contested, known all over the world. K-Way by then was ready for the big step.

(VOICE OVER) DUHAMEL. K-Way, there it is… K-Way: registered name of an anorak that, folded inside one of its pockets, can be wrapped around the waste.

K-Way entered the vocabularies of half the world and became a world-famous brand. A brand that denotes, with its name, an entire category of products.

(VOICE OVER) BOGLIONE. A brand becomes world-famous when the invention, brought to the market, is affirmed and is identified with a new product: a product that didn't exist before and that is associated with that brand which, on top of having invented it, was the first to produce it.

(VOICE OVER) VOLLI. There are products that open doors. K-Way had this fate: it was the first, with many followers and copies, that has remained with a generic name.

(VOICE OVER) DUHAMEL. At the beginning of 1992, watching the 3rd channel on television, I saw a big fire…

NEWS REPORTER A mound of ruins is what was found this morning by rescuers in place of the K-Way establishment.

(VOICE OVER) DUHAMEL. I jumped in my car, I went to Harnes, about 50 kilometers away: I had to see, it had been my childhood, it hurt. I arrived and it was an immense brazier… 25 years of work went up in smoke. It's sad.

In that fire the products, the archives, the history of the trademark burned. From that moment a long descent started for K-Way. It was handed over to different companies, until it got into a paradox. After having reached immortality by entering the vocabularies of half the world, it disappeared from the market.

(VOICE OVER) BOGLIONE. There were no sales figures, no properties, no other value considered tangible. However, on an intangible level, a brand that was found in the dictionary could not be not worth a lot of money. It's the same old story: in a block of marble there is a beautiful statue if you are able to bring it out.

Since 2004 in the hands of the new owner K-Way is coming back into the international limelight. 50 years have passed since it was born, but its simple and essential shape, the idea of lightness and freedom that it represents, are more than ever alive and contemporary.

(VOICE OVER) BOGLIONE. K-Way is 50 years old but it seems to have been designed yesterday or tomorrow. K-Way wants to be contemporary and it must be functional: the K-Way must always have and respond to a function. It has to be technological, colourful and intelligent. These are the strong points of K-Way, of the DNA of K-Way.

(VOICE OVER) DUHAMEL. If it corresponds to these criterions it is K-Way, if even only one of these criterions is missing, it is not K-Way.

The history of K-Way tells us about the great changes in the customs of our society. It is this that makes a brand when it becomes world-famous. It opens new doors, influences and improves our lives. It becomes an object that is nice to know exists: both in small every day events and in the ideas that change the world.

"Every idea that has great consequences is always a simple idea" Lev Tolstoj