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MEETING WITH SAMUEL GRANATA...

This year, L’Exception launched the Smart Choice – showcasing a collection of products that offer sustainable, ethical and locally-sourced alternatives for today’s discerning dresser. Celebrating the people driving change from within the industry, we wanted to sit down with tomorrow’s eponyms as part of SMART TALK, a series of interviews with the designers behind the scenes of Europe’s growing sustainable fashion movement – learning more about their pioneering spirit, practical initiatives and core values.

On the 3rd of July 2019, we head down to Le Marais in Paris for the first in our Smart Talk series where we met Samuel Granata, founder of Rue Begand. Situated at 58 rue Charlot, the flagship store is decorated in dark wood and stainless steel – an industrial edge that reflects the brand’s hardworking roots. The Rue Begand story starts at the Granata’s Ariane atelier in Troyes, a family run and operated factory named after the iconic button-making road the town is famous for. In 1995, Samuel’s mother bought out the atelier and set to work expanding the business. Growing up, Samuel spent his childhood surrounded by clothing destined for the finest fashion houses in Paris – developing an early passion for garment making and a drive to create his own brand. In 2017, Samuel and his brother, Arthur, launched Rue Begand, a menswear prêt à porter brand – creating each piece in the family’s Troyes-based factory. We caught up with him to chat about the brand and his vision for sustainable fashion and local production.

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L’Exception : Hi Samuel, could you introduce yourself to our readers?

Samuel Granata : My name is Samuel Granata, founder of the brand Rue Begand that I created in 2017 with my brother, Arthur Granata, after finishing our studies. We come from a family of garment makers and we have backgrounds that complement each other well. I studied marketing and management and went to a communications university whilst my brother has a more technical and art-based experience – working for Chanel and Dior after studying product design. Having different professional profiles allows us to have a more global vision of the fashion industry. We’ve shared a passion for fashion from a young age, hanging out in the family atelier where we would learn about garment construction. We both agreed we should do something with this experience – so we created Rue Begand.

Fashion has always been a part of your life, but did you always want to work in the industry?

Yes, it’s always been there. From 10 years old we’ve both been fascinated with clothing and design. Being from Troyes, we loved travelling to Paris to discover the new collections every year. During my studies, I did work experience at menswear companies to help give me some practical knowledge of the industry and help to develop the Rue Begand idea – something we’ve had in mind for a long time.

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Clothing from the Rue Begand collection is produced at your family’s atelier in Troyes. Why was it so important to put French savoir-faire at the core of your business?

My family have run a clothing and textile factory for the last 25 years. Keeping French savoir-faire alive means creating jobs in France, that’s important to us. Today, we have 54 people working at the Ariane atelier and 6 staff at the Rue Begand store. It’s also important to keep our family history alive, to expand the business, to evolve and create something that isn’t solely dependent on other fashion brands for business.

Based on your family history, you’ve learnt how to produce clothing, but what about designing them? How did you make the transition from working as a clothing manufacturer to founding your own menswear brand?

At the start, we met up with lots of industry insiders and studied the market to find out where to position our business. We knew roughly what we wanted to do and the kind of style we were aiming for, but we needed a lead product designer to help make our ideas a reality. We called up Christophe Vérot, who has a swimwear company called Robinson Les Bains, and who happened to be one of the atelier’s clients. He helped us speed up and organise our design process. As a manufacturer, you’re given garment specifications for each piece; we had to learn how to do that for ourselves.

Choosing a creative director is an important part of any fashion brand. Why did you decide to entrust Christophe Vérot with the artistic direction of Rue Begand and how do you work together?

Working together previously as one of our clients, we have a good understanding of his experience and style. We presented him with the project to see if it would interest him, knowing he would approach Rue Begand with the same rigour and exigency as he brings to his own brand. We also admire the creative direction that he brings to his swimwear designs, the details and unique prints – qualities that are reflected in our current collections. Each season we showcase a signature print. We are also in tune with his passion for local production – all these elements combined made him the natural choice to collaborate with.

As you mentioned, prints have an important place in your collections. You currently work with an illustrator, Clément Murin to create unique patterns each season. Where does this interest in print design come from and how did you meet Clément?

It came from working with Christophe, who always puts a focus on prints in each collection. When he started presenting us with mood boards, he talked about Clément, a 29-year-old designer from Paris. We met up with him and got a good feeling about it straight away. He’s open to ideas and uses loads of different techniques, pointillism, graffiti, pictorial design…we needed someone who could do lots of different things and was capable of presenting a wide selection of designs. He’s also very efficient and fast which really helped.

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"In my opinion, a sustainable vision is part of the French fashion philosophy, an industry that is connected and concerned with local production. We wanted to challenge ourselves to manufacture our products in-house and be closer to our customers."

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Tell us about the creative process behind making a collection?

It’s often inspired by ideas tied to our travels. Discovering new cultures opens your mind to new ideas in general. We are lucky to travel a lot for work and leisure. In each country or part of the world, there will be a different way of working with fabrics and materials – we try to tie that into the inspiration behind each new collection – noting it down on paper and moving on to colour palettes and cuts. Our latest collection focused on ‘oversized’, for example.

The lookbook for each collection is shot in a different part of France: Flaine ski resort last winter Arcachon this summer. Are they places that have a personal significance?

In Flaine, we wanted to capture the atmosphere of this unique ski resort, designed by the architect Marcel Breuer. The cubist, almost industrial aesthetic of the buildings really interested us from a visual perspective. Thinking about Arcachon, it was the town’s bourgeois, casual Atlantic feel that we were looking for. We want to entice our customers to explore a different part of France in each collection. We’re a French-based brand and it feels important to shoot the lookbook in France to reflect our patriotic spirit. It’s just as important to our French customers as it is to our international following.

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On your website, you boast ‘engaged, non-elitist fashion’. What does the Made in France movement and sustainable fashion mean to you?

In my opinion, a sustainable vision is part of the French fashion philosophy, an industry that is connected and concerned with local production. We wanted to challenge ourselves to manufacture our products in-house and be closer to our customers. For us, that means being engaged in the development of sustainable processes, whether from an ecological standpoint, by limiting the transport of our products or protecting the legacy of French savoir-faire. We also try to integrate other initiatives into our business model, we buy deadstock fabrics from other ateliers like broadcloth wool and jersey made in Troyes in my father’s mills. We try to limit the use of chemically treated fabrics – 90% of the materials we use are organic.

We often associate sustainable fashion with elitist high fashion and prices way out of our budget. Was creating high quality, affordable fashion always part of the plan for the brand?

At Rue Begand, we manufacture our clothing in-house, which cuts out the middle man. That’s what allows us to offer a fairer price point. Our margins are a lot lower than if we decided to produce our collections abroad. By removing intermediary influences, we have a short and efficient production cycle that allows us to pass those savings on to our customers.

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"I think it’s also important that customers can find unique products again, almost limited edition designs instead of purchasing something that the whole world already has."

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You showcase collections that adapt effortlessly to the pace of modern dressing – offering smart, sporty and streetwear-inspired designs. Can you explain your design vision for Rue Begand?

The streetwear aspect seen in previous collections will be less pronounced in the seasons to come. For us, there is one very important watchword, ‘hybrid style’, a common thread in each collection. We are originally from Troyes and work in Paris. We need to combine casual style with something more urban-focused. The idea of hybridisation also extends to the choice of fabrics, too. At Rue Begand, we like to blend materials that aren’t traditionally seen together. For example, our upcoming collection (2020) uses jersey and nylon – bringing a technical touch to our easy to style separates.

Technique seems to be an important watchword for the Rue Begand brand. How does that translate into each collection?

We’ve got pieces that are reversible, zippered or with particular panelling. We also work with technical fabrics commonly used for performance sports like mountaineering. Technique is also seen in how we blend formal and sportswear silhouettes – working with alternative fabrics to offer smart and wearable pieces. All that takes a certain level of expertise.

Finally, if you had to describe Rue Begand in one word, what would it be?

That’s not easy to do. As I stated previously, hybridisation is very important to us and combines lots of different aspects: blending of styles, materials, using a garment for a different function…

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Currently, L’Exception is the only boutique in France where customers can buy Rue Begand outside of your flagship store. Why did you choose to work exclusively with L’Exception?

We chose L’Exception because it’s one of the only concept stores that showcases French design and brands. It’s essential to work with partners that align with our brand values. When I met Régis (founder of L’Exception), he spoke about the company’s passion for French design and the Smart Choice collection that curated ethical, sustainable and locally manufactured products and explained how we could work together. We agreed that when choosing our first French boutique, L’Exception is a renowned name that could offer us lots of credibility.

You work with several distributors in Japan. Is there a market for Made in France there?

Yes, the Made in France concept has seen a lot of success in Japan. I presented my first collection at a trade show in Tokyo. Japanese buyers instantly loved our products. It was a trade show specialising in French-based products because there’s such a market for it. Although I don’t think it’s enough to just be a French brand, you have to be offering something new – Japan has one of the most fascinating menswear scenes in the world. I travelled to Japan five times last year and they have an enormous selection of brands and types of products. The thing that customers like the most is that they can always find something new in our collections that they don’t see anywhere else. Competitive pricing is important, too. Made in France isn’t enough, you need a combination of all those factors.

As you know, L’Exception launched its label ‘Smart Choice’ in 2019 for ethical, sustainable and locally-based products. What is your vision for sustainable fashion?

To me, sustainable fashion is fashion that helps sustain the eco-system surrounding the industry. I mean, in particular the industrial aspects because that’s what I know best. Reinstalling garment production in France to its former glory is something that’s starting to happen slowly, but is really important. We have to cut our ties to fast fashion and foreign manufacturing that fosters deplorable pay and working conditions.

I think it’s also important that customers can find unique products again, almost limited edition designs instead of purchasing something that the whole world already has. That’s the beauty of fashion, finding something special that no-one else has. We like to be different. Shopping from small, independent brands adds a sense of exclusivity and added value to each piece. Customers are becoming increasingly concerned with the provenance of more than their groceries. The fashion industry is one of the most polluting industries in the world. Customers understand and want to change their habits, buying products made in France is a good start.

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Get to know Samuel

Your first fashion memory?

T-shirts from the brand Com8 – a brand founded by Joey Star in the 00s and designs by Gaspard Yurkievich.

What are you listening to at the moment?

Compay Segundo by Chan Chan.

Your favourite film?

The film Four brothers, about gangs in Detroit…and everything from Tarantino!

A present you like to give?

In general, my girlfriend and I usually give clothes

Somewhere you want to visit on holiday?

Bali.