In 2005 traditional French lace maker Brunet took a bold step into the future and transferred its headquarters from France to Hong Kong. The visionary move was made by owner Andreas Roschmann who recognizing that the apparel industry had clearly moved to China and its neighbors and realized that a key element in his company’s future success would be speed-to-market and competitive prices. Manufacturing was relocated to China, with an additional facility added in Thailand this year.
Brunet, which celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2011, still retains its European heritage in the quality and creativity of its laces.
Design Driven Styling
“We are using the European know-how in terms of creation. Our styles are European taste. Our head of design is French, but is based in China and overseas both the China and France design teams,” explained Arnaud Limousin, managing director. “The China team focuses on designing our tailor made laces which are exclusive for specific customers. The team in Paris designs our signature lace collections where the emphasis is on developing trendy, fashion forward styles.”
“Being able to offer tailor made products for our key customers is what differentiates Brunet,” said Mr. Limousin. The company’s goal is to work closely with a few key accounts and provide them with outstanding dedicated service.
The company’s products are mid to high end, with Brunet counting as its customers some of the biggest names in the lingerie industry including Princess Tam Tam, Victoria’s Secret, Chantelle Group, DBA Group, Maniform (China), Triumph and Wacoal.
Combining Quality & Speed
Specializing in leavers lace, Brunet laces are produced on German Karl Mayer JL95 (jacquard) and TL66 (textronic) machines. While developing new styles is important, equally as important is fast delivery. According to Mr. Limousin, Brunet can turnaround a new product – from sketch approval to final product – in 2-3 weeks time. Using a computer simulation, a strike off set can be made and the initial lot can be used for the first prototypes, the fitting and all the necessary tests.
“It’s all about speed, creativity and technology,” he says. “To stay ahead of the game we need to be well organized, deliver what we have promised, be re-active and have a dedicated team.”
Marketing Strategy
Another key factor in Brunet’s continued success is marketing. The company, which runs their advertisement in every issue of Inside Fashion, chose the magazine because it reaches key people in the apparel industry.
“Inside Fashion is a good tool to communicate directly to decision makers,” said Mr. Limousin.
“I personally like Inside Fashion because it is concise and focused. We get targeted trend information and market insights without it being overwhelming. Often times ‘less is more.’ There are fewer pages in each issue [than in other magazines], but the information is more meaningful and it is published more frequently. It is really made for the industry. We are all busy…we need to get only that information which is most useful,” he added.
More Than Just Trimming
“What people sometimes don’t understand about lace is that lace is linked to fashion. It can have a lot of functions that people aren’t aware of. Particularly in the fast growing shapewear sector, lace is adding performance as well as style. Thanks to advanced simulation technology, lace can be developed almost as quickly as embroidery enabling it to part of today’s high speed supply chain process.