A KEDGE Alumnus has launched his own brand, 100% Made in France and organic

I joined KEDGE Business School, which was called the Bordeaux Ecole de Management at the time, to pursue an ESC degree in 2003. I had the opportunity to join the school after obtaining a Deug degree in Economics and Management from the Université Lyon 2. I didn't hesitate to cross the entire country to pursue my education. Coming to Bordeaux was a real choice. As I had a background in economics, it was almost natural for me to pursue a major in Finance my second year. I love to travel and embark on new adventures, so I decided to do a study abroad at HEC in Montreal. I had the option to validate my degree with only one semester, but I thought it would be a shame to travel so far and only stay 6 months. I didn't hesitate to add an additional semester to my curriculum in order to spend a full year in Montreal. In addition to the quality of the teachings, this really enabled me to learn about the region and meet a lot of people. It was really an amazing experience. 

 

 

As I was explaining, Frenchsuday is mainly a meeting between two friends. Indeed, we were both at a time in our lives where we were starting to ask ourselves questions about what we really wanted to do. We really wanted to take on a new challenge and to a certain extent become our own bosses. We were both interested in fashion and we wanted to see what we could do in that field. Once we decided to launch our own brand, we had a million questions. But one stood out. What values did we want to promote? We wanted a brand that reflected our personalities and our friendship. We also wanted to provide quality and durable clothing that remained elegant and environmentally friendly, so we decided to develop an ethical component, both social and environmental, to our project. Our products our 100% Made in France and we only used certified organic raw materials. Our first collection includes t-shirts, sweatshirts, and Chino-style pants. We want to show that you can produce in France while remaining competitive and creating a collection in which elegance and quality are also important criteria. The values we want to put forth are quality, honesty, and durability. 

 

As such, we pride ourselves on producing products in France by working with a dozen SMEs. Every step of the production process takes place in our wonderful country. We have fabrics produced in Roanne, prototypes in Marseille, production in the sentier in Paris, and of course all the designing is also done in Paris. Even the tags are made in France. No detail has been overlooked. We have met with every single one of our suppliers, no exceptions. We didn't want to work with artisans that we only spoke to over the phone or via email. Personal connections are really at the heart of our project. We exchanged frequently with each one so that we only work with people that share our vision and obtain the product we really want to offer. This process took nearly a year but was essential for us. We wanted to go further than just "made in France". All the cotton we use is certified Oeko-Tex, which guarantees that no products that are toxic to a person's health or to the environment are being used. A few statistics to illustrate what we mean: you need between 7,000 and 29,000 liters of water and as much as 30 chemical treatments to produce 1 kg of cotton, whereas it only represents 2.5% of the agricultural surface. Having all of our stakeholders in France also enables us to reduce transportation, and therefore the carbon footprint of our collection. We have a real social and ethical approach. There are real-world issues behind our approach and we wanted to provide our contribution. You can tell yourself that it's ok and continue to live as if nothing was happening, or on the contrary decide that it is our responsibility to do something now. We chose the second option. This project is more than a great entrepreneurial adventure, it is mainly a human experience composed of wonderful encounters and sharing. 

 

 

In order to finance the development of our collection, we decided to first only sell t-shirts. As such, we have launched a crowdfunding campaign on Ulule, which ends on July 19th. This will enable us to record pre-orders. Depending on the objectives we reach, we will offer new colors and launch the production of the sweatshirts and chinos. All the prototypes have already been created. It could go really fast. Our website will be launched in parallele to our crowdfunding platform on Ulule and will take over once the campaign is over. We are thinking about opening a Pop-Up store with other brands. This will enable us to showcase our products in real life, not just online while limiting costs. 

 

PARTICIPATE IN THE ULULE CAMPAIGN (BEFORE 19/07) 

The school enabled me to gain several skills that have been useful for my career. The format of the curriculum is particularly interesting. It enables you to acquire knowledge in several areas before chosing a specialty, without neglecting other subjects. Even if we don't become experts in every subject, it is always useful to have a wide range of skills, especially when you are launching your own project or often have to do things on your own. The possibility to live abroad was one of the most important aspects of my education. Indeed, this provides the opportunity to grow in a completely new environment. By leaving your comfort zone, you meet new people with different backgrounds and learn new work methods and lifestyles that you weren't familiar with before. All these elements help us grow as a person and open our minds to other cultures. We gain a real capacity to adapt by working in an international environment. Additionally, all of these skills can be useful in the future. Nothing is ever lost, you can't forget that. I think one of the courses was particularly useful for our project: the "project team" course. Indeed, due to the format of the course, it lasts a year and requires you to organise an event from A to Z. You have to plan ahead to decide on a specific calendar with all the tasks you have to undertake in order to carry out the project without beign overwhelmed. It also requires you to be organized and to have cohesion between team members. Additionally, it teaches you a lot professionally but enables you to learn a lot about yourself as well. All of these skills are useful - and will continue to be - to carry out the project. Finally, I am convinced that it is the students - us - that are what make the school a success. The most useful tool we gain is, without a doubt, the network. For example, I met Bluenne Chaye at school, and today she is helping us with communications and public relations. The school provides the means, but it up to us to use them. 

 

That's hard, it may take a while, but whatever you do, don't doubt yourself, and follow through with your dreams!

If you are interested in our approach, support us via our Ulule campaign. You can get a great shirt before everyone else. We need your support to implement our project. Don't hesitate to tell your friends about us and follow us on social media. 

 

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Website: www.frenchsunday.fr

EMail address: contact@frenchsunday.fr