Embracing Sustainability And Letting Go Of The Past

I created my first fashion brand, Cecile & Jeanne, in the late eighties in Paris with my sister as the main designer. For a long time, business was going well. Overconsumption was trendy and most consumers weren’t concerned with being eco-friendly. Even then, I always focused on handmade work and craftsmanship. The quality and esthetic of my leather handbags were always my top priority.

But values and priorities change with time. About five years ago, I started to work with my oldest daughter, Natacha. She was fresh out of art school and full of passion. She started working with me part-time as an adviser while she pursued other dreams. Eventually, our side project became her main focus and mine.

Natacha started to impress upon me the importance of designing bags that are vegan and eco-friendly. For someone who worked with leather for the last 30 years, this was a big change. But I could see that the world was pushing for change, and the fashion industry needed to follow suit. It was time to jump in with both feet.

Four years ago, I walked away from Cecile & Jeanne to focus 100% on our new project. I kept only one store, and at first, I sold both our vegan handbags and my handmade leather collection. This decision meant going from twelve shops in Paris with fifties employees to starting from scratch again.

And so, Laflore was born. A sustainable, eco-friendly, and vegan Parisian handbag brand, inspired by vintage fashion and classic French style. This spring, I’ll let go of my leather bags for good and turn my remaining shop into the Laflore flagship store selling only vegan handbags. With our grand opening planned for April 2020, we are excited and proud to be the first eco-friendly, vegan handbag store in Paris.

Taking this big leap was difficult, but the main reason I did was the opportunity to work on a project with my daughter. Her youthful energy reinvigorated my love of fashion and I wanted to support her passion for design. As a father, the opportunity to pass along my hard-earned knowledge to my own daughter has been more fulfilling than I ever imagined. In parallel, Natacha helped me to realize that action needed to be taken to protect the world that we live in. I realized that it was the right thing to do for the environment and for animals. I think it’s important to help educate people and take the lead making the changes we hope to see in the world.

I was excited about the idea of being a pioneer in a movement that was just starting, to lead the way for a better fashion industry. It was clear to me that the industry of my younger days would soon evolve. So, I had a choice: be a part of the avant-garde seeking meaningful change and rebirth or become a relic trying to hold on to the past.

When we first started selling the vegan collection in the store, sales were slow. The vegan/eco-friendly trend was really just beginning. After our initial excitement, the cruel reality of the consumers not matching our ideals was disappointing. Too often, clients looked at the vegan bags and seemed excited, but walked out of the store with one of my leather bags instead. In the collective opinion, leather equaled quality because leather is familiar and time-tested. The inability to sell our vegan collection held us back from our vision of being a zero-waste company. But Natacha was working on one design she believed would change everything: bobobark!

She identified the need for an elegant, chic, and practical backpack for women. She put all of her energy into this project, working day and night on her prototypes, and never settling for less than perfection. It took more than a year to finalize the design for bobobark, but the difficulties of selling our first vegan collection were still fresh in our minds. So, we decided to make a drastic change and introduce this bag to the world in a different way. We partnered up with Elad from Paperwallet and another long-time friend, Jonas, who are both digital marketing experts, and launched our concept through a crowdfunding campaign. Using this format not only allowed us to spread our message and our vision all over the world, but also to produce only what was ordered and avoid waste.

Taking the step toward sustainability

Since the moment I decided to take the step toward sustainability, I’ve only looked forward. Of course, there are risks to being at the forefront of a movement and trying to change the way that people think about fashion — something so deeply ingrained in our daily lives. But we’ve been fortunate to receive only positive feedback from our partners and our customers.

It’s not the eighties anymore. Climate change, sustainability, and animal welfare are top concerns for younger generations. We’ve found that people respect and often admire our choice to do right by the planet, and our clients have been extremely supportive. And last summer, when the bobobark campaign launched, women fell in love with the beauty and the design of the bags. Leather versus vegan was no longer part of the debate; everybody just wanted their bobobark. Even though we experienced a few difficulties along the way, sacrificed our own time, and put in a lot of hard work, we’d make the same decisions again, 100 times over.