«Cuando un cliente compra un producto en una marca en realidad está comprando sus valores. Antes el valor era la calidad, que las piezas duraran años. Hoy las cosas han cambiado, el cliente busca en las marcas responsabilidad social». Jean Cassegrain sabe de lo que habla. Ha crecido viendo cómo evolucionaba el negocio de su familia, Longchamp, la firma de marroquinería fundada por su abuelo, del mismo nombre, en 1948. Pero lo que ha convertido a Longchamp en un referente global no ha sido el cuero, pese a seguir siendo la especialidad de la firma, sino el nylon. Ya desde los años setenta, la familia Casegrain creaba bolsos con este material como sustituto a las pesadas y poco practicas maletas. Y en 1993 nacía Le Pliage, el que sigue siendo el best seller de Longchamp después de casi treinta años: un bolso de nylon muy sencillo, práctico y plegable, con tapa y asa de cuero y cierre a presión. «Es nuestro Chanel nº 5», comenta , «si repasas su historia, es un producto que no ha cambiado en cien años. Ha evolucionado, con cambios sutiles pero en esencia sigue siendo lo mismo. Nosotros aplicamos la misma lógica a Le Pliage, cambiarlo para que nada cambie», explica Cassegrain, que desde hace treinta años es el presidente de la empresa.
Photo: Courtesy of Longchamp
The small change of Longchamp's flagship comes, how could it be otherwise, on the side of social responsibility.The new model, called Le Pliage Green, is almost fully composed of recycled materials."It has been an interesting challenge, because in the end this is a very simple bag, but you had to find the right raw materials," says Cassegrain.Finally, they have made the nylonproceda of fishing nets, carpets, stockings or retales and the packaging also be recycled and the leather comes from tanners certified by the Leather Working Group, that is, aware of water and waste spending."But we continue working on processes to achieve 100% sustainability," he explains.In fact, Longchamp's challenge is that in 2022 all its pliages models are sustainable.Moreover, they have long offered a free repair service that currently manages about 30.000 pieces a year.The idea not only has to do with reducing the environmental footprint, but also consumption.«Our goal is to maintain the balance between novelty and the classic.We are a fashion brand, and we have to offer different things every season, we cannot only do black or blue bags because people would get tired, but behind everything we do is the idea of the duration above the seasons, ”he says.
Jean Cassegrain, president of Longchamp. Photo: Courtesy of Longchamp
Although the pliage is still its star product, four years ago Longchamp decided to make the leap and become a lifestyle teaching.They expanded their offer beyond the bags and accessories to glasses, shoes and garments.Since 2018 your collections are shown within New York Fashion Week.«We realized that our customers do not want only the product, they want the story behind it.The idea of Parisian practical elegance.What we sell are best are bags, of course, but these products help us to tell our story better, ”explains Cassegrain.
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To an teaching focused largely on the idea of the trip (and with hundreds of points of sale in airports), the pandemic has taken its toll."Much of the business came from tourism, but it has helped us to focus on local markets," explains the president of Longchamp, "these months the bet has been to make us visible.That is the biggest challenge, because there is more and more competition ».The solution, comments is to combine trend and tradition."Customers now demand durable products, but also with more design components".
A LE PLIAGE GREEN model.
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