Sylvette Lepers: 'La Redoute offers designer clothing at prices that are accessible to a wide audience'

The next La Redoute X collaboration with former Louis Vuitton designer Jeremy Currat is scheduled for 4 December 2024. Ahead of its launch, Sylvette Lepers, head of designer collaborations and special projects at La Redoute, owned by the Galeries Lafayette group, explains her approach to FashionUnited.

What are your responsibilities at La Redoute?

My role is to offer unique and exclusive collections from emerging talents, brands, personalities, or more established labels in fashion and design. I guide them from the creative process right through to the advertising campaign.

How do you select designers?

It’s all about meeting people. I love brands that come alive. I want to be seduced by the designer, by their world and what drives them.

So it's a personal and intuitive choice, not one made based on economic performance?

There’s no reason why it couldn’t be for commercial reasons, but the primary goal is to support creativity. It’s in our company’s DNA to want to unveil new talent and offer designer pieces to a wide audience at accessible prices. We are well aware that when we publicise a young designer, we’re not looking for the same commercial success as an established brand. It’s a matter of finding the right balance between commercial success and relative success, but the latter always lies in opening a window of expression for creativity.

Do some designers refuse to be associated with a mass-market retailer for fear of devaluing their brand image?

We are fortunate to have started collaborating with designers back in 1969, the first being Emmanuelle Khanh, which gives us a certain legitimacy. [Khanh] was one of those young people who wanted to democratise couture for ready-to-wear. Since then, we have continued to collaborate with her twice a year.

In the 90s, all the big names honoured us with exclusive collections: Yves Saint Laurent, Azzedine Alaïa, Sonia Rykiel, Karl Lagerfeld. In the 2000s, we turned our attention to young designers, including Isabel Marant, Vanessa Bruno, Koché and Maison Château Rouge.

I’ve been watching the design scene since 2011, when I was head of press. For my first collaboration, I proposed Simon Porte Jacquemus. In 2013, I invited Anthony Vaccarello, when he wasn’t yet at Saint Laurent.

I’ve never been refused, because La Redoute is known for doing things well. I vouch for La Redoute, but also for the designer's image, for the duration of the collaboration. An image is built slowly and destroyed very quickly. For me, it's a matter of trust and mutual respect.

How do you bring La Redoute and the designers together?

It always happens very naturally. I like things to happen organically. The designers come to me or I contact them. That’s why I’m always on the lookout. I’m naturally curious, I love all forms of design, and I’ve been fortunate enough to sit on several juries at a number of fashion schools, including HEAD in Geneva, which is a very good school.

What type of consumer buys items resulting from designer collaborations?

Customers who enjoy discovering new brands and are looking for designer style at a fair price. There are many types of customers. I’m fortunate to have loyal customers who systematically buy one or two pieces.

What makes your collaborations different from those launched by H&M or Zara?

I don’t want to comment on other players in the field, but let’s just say that La Redoute likes to showcase young talent. I specify what I can’t do – fur, for ethical reasons – but otherwise, I give them a lot of freedom. I don’t like specifications. I want it to resemble them, but I can’t make trousers with three legs – we still need to sell. That’s my only constraint. A good partnership means transparency and respect on both sides.

How are the clothes produced?

Once we’ve agreed on the two or three silhouettes, which is about 10 garments, the designer comes to Roubaix [France] and we choose the materials together, which we source from our suppliers. At La Redoute, we’re lucky to have pattern cutters. One of them works with me on my creative projects. We manufacture our designs in workshops in Europe, for example with some very fine Italian fabrics, but also in France, as we recently did with our collection of wool and cashmere jumpers.

We have a pool of suppliers who follow us in terms of production quantities. There was a time when we would place an order, replenish stock, and sometimes have leftover inventory. We are increasingly sensitive to deadstock, although La Redoute has never destroyed its unsold stock, but donates it to charities.

We are increasingly working with small quantities. For a young designer, we’re talking about a few hundred pieces or less, which means that the collections are smaller and there are no leftovers. Customers order when the capsule collection is released and then move on to something else. These are desirable pieces that people like to treat themselves to as soon as they go on sale.

La Redoute is a company with a strong international presence and is part of the Galeries Lafayette group. We sell in France and abroad, but also at Galeries Lafayette [in a designer space]. Designers appreciate being supported by a well-known group that knows what it’s doing. These days, they want their clothes to be worn and seen on the street.

What is the price range for the La Redoute X young designers collaboration?

A coat retails for around 160 pounds, trousers for 70 pounds and a blouse for 60 pounds. These prices are not related to the prices charged by their fashion houses. For example, we collaborated with Courrèges. The famous little dress, which sells for 1,300 pounds in their boutiques, was offered for 85 pounds. When the people in the fashion house’s atelier saw the collection, they asked us: “How do you do it?"

Do you think prices are hindering the growth of designer collections?

Exclusive collections give them visibility, allow them to reach a wider audience, receive remuneration and be interested in sales. I don’t mean to offend anyone when I say that some are not known at all.

When it comes to their personal collections, the high prices make it difficult for everyone. It’s important to bring them down. The economic reality is that we can’t sell a coat for 1,300 pounds. That’s the problem when you only produce a few pieces, as is often the case. And even more so if they want it made in France or with a particular savoir-faire [like pleating].

There are items that are very well made, but don’t come from France. That’s why it’s so important for young designers to be well supported and backed by structures that can help them. Designers often feel very alone.

Do you think that young designers, insofar as they can organise themselves, have an interest in selling at lower prices?

There is strength in numbers. They are supported by organisations like the Fédération du Prêt-à-Porter and the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode, but if they joined forces instead of working separately, they could pool their resources. From that point of view, there is something to be done.

It would be interesting if small production structures existed to optimise their costs: purchasing raw materials, production units that absorb their production volumes. Perhaps they already exist? If so, let us know.

This article originally appeared on FashionUnited.FR. It was translated to English using an AI tool called Genesis and edited by Rachel Douglass..

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