"Atelier Loden coats are intended for the greatest number, not the elite"

October 27, 2021 Ludmilla Intravaia

Bastien Hullessen, founder of Atelier Loden, January 27, 2021, in Paris (© Lionel Samain for Le Boudoir Numérique 2021)

2/2 - As Atelier Loden second pre-order campaign comes to its end, follow-up and end of Le Boudoir Numérique interview with Bastien Hullessen, founder of Atelier Loden, brand of sustainable customizable coats made in France.

By Ludmilla Intravaia

Le Boudoir Numérique: In the first part of our interview (read here), you mentioned your desire to "make a meaningful coat" which led to your concept of customizable French loden coats. How did you catch the attention of potentiel clients on your first pre-order campaign, as a young designer just starting out?

Bastien Hullessen, founder of Atelier Loden: My project, carried out in parallel with a salaried job in the startup community, had been in the making for three years. In March 2020, I invested myself fully in its realization, by writing the editorial content of my sale page, by preparing my email campaigns and by trying to target, upstream, the maximum of people likely to be interested in my concept. So I made available to people, in exchange for an email, the market research I had done, in order to build up my database of potential customers. Over the weeks, I sent them emails explaining the different aspects of my approach. So I raised the envy, until the launch of my campaign, which was crowned with success, with around 50 people ordering a coat from day one.

Your commercial approach has only gone through digital ...

Yes. Collecting emails to then present your project, using an advertising campaign specifically on social networks, is an effective method that has proven itself to me. Digital marketing has allowed me to target much more precisely than traditional media people who already have an interest in coat brands similar to mine, while measuring the return on investment of each action, of each euro spent.

Once the pre-order campaign was over, you started your production?

At the end of my first campaign, on November 13, 2020, the crowdfunding platform Ulule released the funds needed to complete my project and I ordered my raw materials. Already, during the summer, the prototypes of the coats had been finalized with my clothing workshop in Indre, at Hervier Productions. In mid-December, all the materials were delivered to the workshop which manufactured in one month the coats, shipped to customers, as fabrication progressed.

As your second pre-order campaign started on October 4, what is your assessment of your experience so far?

The results are very positive. I learned a lot of things, especially in the areas of customer acquisition and advertising that I did not know at all. But the most important thing is the pleasure of giving access to a very beautiful coat that would be sold at a much higher price by a classic brand. It’s the feedback from my clients who tell me that they are delighted to own a magnificent loden coat, while supporting local know-how. Atelier Loden is a passionate’s project, I made no margin on the first launch of my coats.

Your didn't earn anything with your project?

No, I even suffered losses, because of small costs that I hadn't anticipated. Some people tell me I'm crazy, but I challenged myself: to offer my coats to the greatest number, not an elite. My coat is expensive to produce because the materials and the workshop are French. It costs me between 300 and 350 euros, just for manufacturing, 200 euros for the making, 150 euros for the wool. It is more expensive than a Hermès coat or any other brand. The problem is, if I wanted to make some margin, I would have to sell it for between 600-700 euros minimum. At that point, I would no longer speak to the same target. Decorrelating the price of the coat from its intrinsic value bothers me on principle. Selling a coat for 1200 euros, when it is worth 200, that does not go well with me. My approach is not necessarily the most economically viable, because unless I sell a lot, my project is not destined to grow too much. But I want things to change, at my modest level, by proposing beautiful pieces to as many people as possible who, without Atelier Loden, would not be able to afford them.

How do you see the future of Atelier Loden?

I have lots of ideas to reach other countries or launch different products but before that, I would like to be recognized as a good manufacturer of coats, someone who does well what he already does and is committed to his work. Someone who has at heart to improve, by taking into account customer feedback. I would like to bring this idea of personalization to life so as to, who knows, one day develop the perfect concept around the coat.

* Atelier Loden's second pre-order campaign is open until October 31, 2021. More info on the French brand's website here.

* Read the first part of Bastien Hullessen’s interview on Le Boudoir Numérique: "With Atelier Loden, I wanted to make a meaningful coat".

Bastien Hullessen, founder of Atelier Loden, January 27, 2021, in Paris (© Lionel Samain for Le Boudoir Numérique 2021)

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