Rethink the fundamentals
The first important event that awaited me at the beginning of September was 3 days outdoors with Florian and Bertrand to take stock and (re)think the BonneGueule brand .
(This is sometimes called a “leadership seminar”)
More specifically, Florian and Bertrand were determined to bring out from me the very essence of BonneGueule: why I loved BonneGueule so much, what my vision was, my mission, and where I wanted to take the brand .
That's good, these were subjects on which I had thought a lot during my little trips in summer, on my beaches in Normandy, in Houat and in Lacanau.
And I'll tell you what I told them: BonneGueule, for me, is above all a great love of texture, relief, mottled, before the eye and under the hand . A taste for beautiful materials, with stories, because I love hearing stories and I love sharing them.
Rich materials to enrich the moments we love , whether it's everyday life, a wedding, a date, a dinner with friends, an afternoon at home, or a weekend getaway.
A rain that continued to bring me joy this fall!
With a “contemporary” style, this word is a bit of a catch-all but which means that we will not do workwear, sportswear or first degree vintage, without denying what these styles can bring to a modern wardrobe. 'today .
However, I always like to keep a touch of elegance, particularly with the shirt collars that we have started to rework and, dare we say it, a very light touch of sensuality in the men's wardrobe .
And obviously, with a few nods to very technical materials from the outdoors and high-end military clothing: I'm thinking of our use of Polartec Alpha and Climashield in particular . And since my summer, I want to take on even more. The outdoors also inspire me for the functionality of our clothing: you may have noticed that we always try to put interior zipped pockets or fleece in our coat pockets to keep our hands warm.
Yes, we build bridges with these universes rather than opposing them .
BonneGueule is also more than clothes . These are also contents with passion. Because deep down, I love sharing this passion and nothing pleases me more than receiving messages like: “thanks to BonneGueule, I discovered…”
This is a very general vision of BonneGueule, but this review article is already very long, I am thinking of writing another article specifically dedicated to the evolution of our branding .
More particularly, I became (again) interested in this notion of good, true, and beautiful . Notion that I discussed… 8 years ago in an interview on BonneGueule ! As it turns out, everything is linked.
I reworked it a bit, but for me, in an ideal world, a BonneGueule garment should tick 3 boxes:
- to be true : namely to be a truly useful piece of clothing, which completely fulfills its function. Are pockets practical for everyday life? Is this garment really breathable even when it's hot? Does the hood protect well enough?
- be in the right way : this is simple to understand, it must have a positive impact (or the least negative possible) on the living and the non-living: it must be manufactured in good social conditions, and in the most respectful way of the environment. The human adventure must be successful behind each of our clothes.
- be beautiful : it is a garment that must be beautiful to see, to touch and to wear. This involves the drape of a collar, or the richness of a textured material, with harmonious lines.
“When do we have a laugh?”
At the request of Alex Dana and Luca (yes, yes, the Luca you are thinking of ) during the summer, I am organizing a hike between entrepreneurs in the Basque country for mid-October, because for me these are the best conditions: no one in the mountains and very mild temperatures, characteristic of the Basque Indian summer .
I loved this moment of exchanges in nature, talking about our entrepreneurial issues, but also our desires for the future, here with Anaïs and Luca.
For the most curious, the goal is to do two stages of the legendary GR10 , over two days: Ainoha → Bidarray → Saint Etienne de Baigorry.
And then I told myself that it would be good for me to get away from my intense Parisian daily life for a few days. These are also good times to take a step back.
It is therefore with a funny and happy team that we leave from Ainhoa, a charming Basque village, with:
- Alex and Anaïs, co-CEO of Live Mentor
- Victor, formerly of Live Mentor, and Youtuber on specialized subjects
- Antoine and Blandine , a couple of friends in fitness
- Colette , who produces very beautiful erotic podcasts (yes, yes!)
- and good old Luca who even had the luxury of doing this hike wearing Jacques Marie Mage glasses.
For the aside, I wore an Umlindi backpack from Hill People Gear, Canis Athlete pants, a Primitive Outdoor base layer, a Sitka lightweight mid-layer and a Paramo Outdoor windbreaker on both days. And for the symbol, I had a titanium bottle, because now, I always try to have a titanium object for my outdoor outings .
The kind of panoramas where reflection and contemplation go together…
I had a lot of fun exploring these small Basque mountains with this equipment.
“Good gear for good times” : this thing obsessed me more than ever .
While we had just passed the small peak of Astatine, with the sun slowly waning, and as usual, I was immersed in my thoughts about “the right gear for the right time”, Alex told me about his company and asks me “ but Benoit, in all this, in entrepreneurship, in our companies, when do we fucking laugh? ”
I don't know if it's the reflective power of vast spaces, if it was because I felt good in this nature, protected from the elements, but this question hit me hard .
“That’s true, when have I had a laugh in the last few months?”
A sentence from François, our first coach/business angel and (very) experienced manager then came back to mind: “ when you go through big moments of adversity like that, it’s super important that the team continues to take pleasure in what she does .”
Without realizing it, Alex had just brought up a valuable question about the pleasure I had in my work .
What can I put in place in 2023 to keep everyday fun? And besides, what do I really like doing day after day?
Thinking about clothes, writing about clothes, telling stories about clothes, telling stories behind the scenes: that doesn’t change!
I tried to wear a bit of outdoor gear this winter to preserve myself… and put my “winter gear” to work!
We continued our hike, with Alex walking in front of me, in Goruck pants, Thrudark base layer, Tilak mid-layer and Savotta backpack (it's crazy how well I remember these kinds of details) , promising myself that I would never forget the “but when do we have fun?”
Now all that remains is to embody it on a daily basis...
In short, I really loved this format and these discussions between entrepreneurs/content creators literally in progress and I would like to do it again 2 or 3 times in 2023, because it was one of my best moments in 2022.
And then, I returned to Paris, recharged to face winter, which is an important season for BonneGueule .
On the business side: a winter of 2022 as we could have
As I said, our new 2023 outerwear products have been slow to arrive. We did have our Carisio down jacket in English tweed, but it quickly sold out.
That said, we released a very nice collaboration with ABCL, on a coat entirely made in Italy.
But the very pretty parka with a removable lining which was to arrive in November was hit hard by the war in Ukraine .
Indeed, it is manufactured there, in a factory very close to the Romanian border, therefore very far from the front, but which is still subject to power cuts all day long .
It should therefore arrive between mid and end of February if all goes well.
But this missing outerwear has undeniably weighed on our turnover
And it's impossible to talk about our winter 2022 without talking about our collaboration with Bleu de Chauffe , with this bag made in France in X Pac canvas and with its Cobra buckle which sold out very quickly.
Casually, this collaboration did me a lot of good internally for two reasons:
- critical and commercial success restores confidence
- and being a fan of backpacks, Cobra buckles, and X Pac, this bag was a breath of fresh air!
And I would like to thank Alexandre again, the founder of Bleu de Chauffe, for playing the game to the fullest .
For the rest, and thanks to our Milo overshirts and our knits, we were able to have our best month of December. And I remain as proud as ever of what the product division has imagined, with blends that are rarely or not found elsewhere, composing over the years a varied and luxurious proposition in its materials.
But it was a little broken by all these latest adventures that I returned to my parents' Basque country for Christmas, my Goruck GR2 backpack and my BonneGueule Ventile jacket on my back, for a handful of days, thinking back to my decision concerning Christophe.
I realized that I remained weakened by these last months and that I had to continue to take care of myself, it was a necessity .
And so it was with Valentin, Maria, and Victoria that I spent my December 31st in Paris, nestled in an apartment owned by Etienne Marcel, and I wanted to be as peaceful as possible.
2023 now presented itself to me , and it was time to think about my intention, or rather my intentions, and that is what we are going to see tomorrow.
