You surely haven’t missed the controversy of the past few days: the giant Chinese company Shein is opening a shop at the BHV and in some Galeries Lafayette.
I don’t know about Shein, but I do realise that, in the end, it is just hanging by a thread (or two).
1/ I am lucky enough that my children have teachers sensible enough to avoid me buying useless clothes for the end of the year bazaar
2/ I am the mother of two boys…
I take advantage of the occasion to take a stock on fabrics. The ones you will find at Shein are polyester, polyamide, acrylic… are synthetic fibres made from petroleum. Endless, they allow manufacturing clothes on assembly lines at a very low cost (except for — and a good one at that — the ecological damage). Here is, among others, the secret of the very small prices of the “Fast — and Furious — fashion”.
On the opposite side, there are natural fibres: cotton, wool, linen, cashmere, silk… that must be harvested, washed, weaved, and rely on the climate, the gatherings, the know-how… anyway, on people. As Lanificio Bottoli, for example, the Italian company that provides us with the wool for our coats. Established at Vittorio Veneto, at the foot of the Dolomites, Ettore and his family are perpetuating an exceptional know-how for four generations. Or else, the companies Albini and Canclini which exist for more than a century, and weave the fabrics for our shirts.
As you will have realised, at Victoire, it has been more than 60 years that we believe that a beautiful piece of clothing, it’s before all an exceptional fabric, which lasts, forms a patina, and lives. By the way, many of you still wear pieces from ancient collection which don’t look a day older. It is the quality that makes our fashion timeless, capable of lasting through seasons… and generations.
Then yes, our fashion comes at a certain price — defined by time — but it really is this that adds value.
Have a nice weekend,
Camille
