Luxury brand buys suppliers: Chanel still save the world

The sewing machine rattles, the fingers spread the dark cloth apart centimeter by centimeter and turn it again and again in a different direction. The wool fabric curls around the needle, it is still not clear what fashionist Florence Astra is working on. "It's the sailor's hat from the Métiers-d'art collection 'Hamburg' by Chanel," says the 47-year-old, pointing to the stack of copies turned to the left, which she still has to finish today.

Florence Astra is "Première d'atelier" at the Maison Michel, one of the most famous hatters of Paris. Since 1997, the small business belongs to the Chanel subsidiary Paraffection, which unites various craft businesses under one roof. The Elbe sailor hat of the house Michel is one of the highlights of Chanel's current Métiers d'art collection. Each year, the collection is presented in a different location, in December 2017 she made her first stop in Germany.

Hardly any other collection combines so much of the highest tailoring and craftsmanship: Over the steps of the Elbphilharmonie, models in mini dresses made of hand-painted feathers, in evening gowns with multi-layered silk tulle pleats, coats made of wool cord or knitted tweed. Each look a masterpiece, crowned by the hand-made Hanseatic caps from the Maison Michel.

Astra has been with the company for 27 years. The modist needs about three and a half hours to "mount" the cap. After that, the piece is garnished with necklaces, scarves, veils, embroidered ribbons or sequins. This can take several hours. At the same time, the employees will take care of the prototypes for the next winter collection. Each year, they work on four of their own collections, eight collections for Chanel and other designs for external customers. "We have a lot to do," says Astra.

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That was not always so. The house was founded in 1936 by Auguste Michel, 1968 took over Pierre Debard and his wife. But at some point the hat went out of fashion, the orders were missing. "Maison Michel was really bad at the time," says Bruno Pavlovsky, president of Chanel's fashion division and chief of paraffection. "When Debard retired, he asked if we could take over his factory, and Karl Lagerfeld started working with the house." The fashion designer outfitted his collections with hats and made the brand so well known. Soon, Disneyland Paris had hats manufactured at Maison Michel. Today the craft business is again a solid company with over 50 employees, runs its own boutiques, a webshop and sells its creations worldwide.

The success story of Maison Michel is not the only one to show paraffection. The Chanel daughter, whose name means "out of affection", today unites 24 "métiers d'art d'exception" with a total of more than 1000 employees. Each of these "outstanding crafts" works independently, but can use services of the parent company, such as accounting or communication. The holding company also helps with corporate strategy, training and sales. Chanel also fills the order books and invests in the companies.

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Sounds generous, but Pavlovsky says, "It's not about patronage." It was about creating a kind of ecosystem that benefited both sides. "Small and medium-sized businesses often have no access to grants or loans," says Sigolène Lapostolet, project director at Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant, a state-owned organization that honors outstanding craft companies with a seal of approval. "By engaging heavily with Chanel, the brand takes responsibility for the heritage."

Responsibility for the heritage

Since 1984, Chanel has been investing in small suppliers. The first company that was acquired was Desrues. The button maker had already made metal buttons with the intricate "C" for Coco Chanel. Today, with its 200 employees, he also produces pendants, medallions and costume jewelery for other luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton.

"In the beginning, our main concern was to secure the knowledge and skills of the house," says Pavlovsky. "The time to create our collections is getting shorter and shorter, many designs go back and forth between the studio and the design department, and we need savoir-faire in our area." This flexibility can cost Chanel a little. After the takeover of a company Paraffection accelerates the digitization of the archive material. This helps young employees research and accelerates the creative process. "The better the historical material is processed, the faster it will be possible to continue working on designs."

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However, knowledge and craftsmanship should not only be saved and preserved from oblivion - they should be further developed. "The savoir-faire can be old, and it can take years to master it," says Bruno Pavlovsky. "But that does not change the fact that we have to open up to modern techniques and ideas." That's why Paraffection welcomes its studios for other clients as well. "If they have to meet many different requirements, they enrich their aesthetics."

Pleated fabric maker Lognon about, a seven-employee mini-company, is folding silk carrés for homes like Hermès, Dior, Givenchy or Balmain. "And everyone knows that we pretty much fulfill every wish," says studio manager Claire Monceau. More than 3,000 rolled-up pleated cardboard boxes stand on metal shelves at Lognon and look like a kind of soundproofing. When pleating, however, hardly a word falls anyway, so concentrated are all there.

As soon as the fabric lies between the folded boxes, a kind of ballet begins: The employees rhythmically move their arms and hands to fold the folds of the paper with the fabric. In about three minutes, a pleated package is laced and ready for the steam oven, where the fabric is "burned". Duration and temperature depend on the material. Wool, for example, takes more time and heat than silk. "We pleat almost everything," says Monceau, "even snakeskin or cork." It takes three and a half years to learn how to pleat and create new boxes.

Unlike the staff of many Chanel studios, the people at Lognon are very young. Everyone has learned here. Head Monceau is just 33 - and thus the oldest. "I want to do something with my hands in the future," she says, "and get to know other professions." Paraffection offers talents like her many career opportunities. "Handicraft has had a bad image for a long time, which is why so many companies have had to close down and they have not found successors," says Bruno Pavlovsky. "But we notice that there is a rethinking of youth." And that should be encouraged.

Good shoes? Only from Italy

When it comes to the future of old crafts, the big fashion houses in France are pulling together. "Chanel and Hermès do a lot to keep them alive," says Sigolène Lapostolet of Patrimoine Vivant. Recently, Louis Vuitton has also started to open studios. "But a lot of quality has already been lost due to outsourcing or economic constraints," says Pavlovsky. For good shoe trade you have to go to Italy today. The same applies to knitwear and jeans. The tailoring industry is still well represented in France, but weakened. "If the big brands stop producing in France, we'll have a problem in a few years."

Despite the initiative of haute couture houses, the dying of the studios continues. Good Tweedstoffhersteller there are only a dozen in Europe. The number of pleaters can be counted on one hand. Meanwhile, glove manufacturers all train themselves because there is no school for this profession. "We have to be very careful to preserve this know-how because it allows us to create extraordinary collections," says Pavlovsky. After all, fashion is one of the most important export goods in France.