What program for this week’s launch?

Be careful, this is going to be a busy week, with lots of exceptional Japanese fabrics and tanned leathers to withstand the passing years!

(also note the presence of two Instagram lives this week!)

• Tuesday May 26 : article presenting our noragi in collaboration with Borali (the one you are reading right now)
• Wednesday May 27 : I will be live on Instagram from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. with Boras to talk to you about this collaboration
• Thursday May 28 : presentation of the Henley (finally!), our new chambray shirt and cargo pants . And obviously, these are just Japanese materials with a lot of personality
• Friday May 29 at 12 p.m .: it will be #PassionCuir since we will finally present our derbies in very sturdy leather and our belt with vegetable-tanned leather
• Friday May 29 at 6 p.m .: I will still be live on Insta to answer all your questions about all the pieces from this launch

⚠️See the end of the article to find out the availability of each piece from this launch in our stores.⚠️

Let's go to noragi with Borali!

(note this fabulous rhyme)

Ah, we can say that it was a collaboration that was expected!

This article includes two videos , here is the first which presents the framework of our collaboration:

And the second, it was filmed to bring you a key moment in the history of this noragi: the visit to the Japanese workshop .

I'll let you scroll down to the relevant paragraph 🙂

“Yes it’s very pretty, but I’ve never worn this piece…”

I know, I know, the noragi, we haven't talked about it much in the media, but with this article, I really want you to realize the place (and versatility) it has in a casual wardrobe .

You'll see, it's not really a "difficult" piece, it's quite the opposite.

Please note : this article was written with four hands, mine and those of Boras!

This noragi is in an exceptional fabric, and a piece with a rich history, but it is also a human story! So let's see how it got started.

The Benoît x Boras meeting - by Benoît

Let’s start with an anecdote…

Boras and I studied:

• in Tours…
• the same years...
• in the same building...
• and without ever crossing paths!

For my part, I vaguely remember seeing a pair of what looked like Lanvin in 2006 while waiting in line at the cafeteria, I think it was probably Boras.

He was in DUT GEA and I was in DUT Marketing Techniques, with only one floor separating us.

If we had been told that we would meet almost 15 years later around our passion for clothing...

During all these years, we met on the forums, then in 2014 Boras launched his blog, where he took the time to set up a unique universe, especially in France.

I really appreciate his eye for colors, where his universe revolves around pastel tones, sand, olive, and other colors that recall nature.

Like me, he appreciates all the Japanese know-how that creates beautiful materials with grain and irregularity, to develop a patina over time.

Obviously, he's a big fan of Visvim, this ultra-niche Japanese brand specializing in natural dyes and other artisanal methods. In France, he is surely the person who has written the most content about this brand.

I like this atmosphere which mixes street, ametora, and Japanese.

About three years ago, we met in person and the flow went very well, we had quite a few evenings, and I discovered a hyper sensitive Boras, who understood well all my delusions linked to techwear or Japanese jewelry. Native American inspiration (he's even the one who brought me my First Arrow's pendant from Japan).

Then, two years ago, Boras decided to launch his brand, at his own pace, with his friend Julien.

Funny thing, it is via BonneGueule that Boras will meet Julien. Indeed, Julien was already reading BonneGueule in 2012 and it is on our forum that they will get to know each other.

Why this collaboration? - by Benoît

“It happened naturally.”

I know it's a bit too conventional an expression, but it perfectly describes the state of mind behind this collaboration.

One didn't have to convince the other, and I don't really know who proposed the idea to whom. Both Boras and Julien were up for it.

Our taste for sourcing Japanese fabrics and our experience in tailoring would spark with the vision of Borali's noragi.

I also recognized a lot of myself in the story of Boras who launched his blog, then a few years later, who met his partner Julien and decided to create their brand.

This collaboration is also a way for us to support a great entrepreneurial project.

Boras and Julien have been working on it for two years now alongside their respective professions, selling in particular to finance the first prototypes, and we are very honored to see that their very first noragi - the reason for being of Borali - is It was with BonneGueule that they decided to launch it.

The Borali brand - by Boras

There would have been no Borali without noragi.

Told like this, the genesis can be surprising.

I'm going to start from scratch, but I promise, I'll do it quickly.

Maybe my face tells you something. I've been working on a few releases from BonneGueule's Japan line for a few years now. I am Boris, better “known” under the nickname Boras.

After about ten years of developing my passion for clothing on men's fashion forums, I wanted to share what I had learned with more people. This is how my blog borasification.com was born.

Benoît mentioned it a little earlier, I defend a vision of style where wide cuts, size-up jeans, Japanese labels and heritage combine, in a street vibe.

What I call street heritage style. 

Truly in love with noragi, I spent my time talking about it, on my blog and the BonneGueule forum. A piece that is still not very accessible, Julien, reader of the blog and member of the BonneGueule forum, decided to make his own. 

Without training, self-taught!

The result stunned me. I suggested we meet so he could show me all this in real life.

One of those encounters that changes your life.

On one side, Julien, meticulous and perfectionist, technical geek. On the other, myself, creative and visual, addicted to styling.

Borali had just been born.

Since then, our label has been growing slowly. We draw and model everything, the old-fashioned way, before looking for workshops in France and Japan. We have developed a collection of accessories made from upcycled fabrics and we are working on launching our first pieces.

And it couldn't be anything other than a noragi.

The noragi of this collab has a special flavor for us. Benoît was the first to push us to work on this product together, it's a great story.

Why noragi? - by Benoît

Boras has been campaigning for the democratization of this piece for years. And he has been complaining for years about the difficulty of finding them in France.

To have a good history of this piece, and more broadly of historical Japanese clothing, Boras has published quite a file.

Myself, it was a piece that intrigued me, halfway between workwear and Japanese aesthetics, two worlds that I really like.

It's a humble, simple, authentic, comfortable piece, with a functional and refined design - attributes that speak to me a lot - I didn't need more.

My first encounter with a noragi - by Boras

Passion for clothing and fashion can be expressed in many ways. For my part, I see men's fashion as a big playground. Always curious to discover new pieces, a new creative vision.

However, some will impact you more than others.

Our meeting was purely by chance, while leafing through the lookbook of a well-known Japanese label during the summer of 2012.

I immediately fell in love with its design which immediately tells a story (I'm going to sound crazy, but some clothes talk!).

Comfortable and versatile, it makes an outfit in itself.

Creating a noragi cannot be reduced to reproducing a vintage piece. Formerly a Japanese peasant's garment, neither the shape nor the volumes are suited to a contemporary wardrobe.

And conversely, you should not make it a simple shirt with a “kimono” collar.

So for more than a year, we made prototypes one after another. Julien sewed each of them. We tested and then adjusted our homemade pattern.

Until you have the balance of shapes and volumes that you see before your eyes.

A Japanese-inspired piece that fits into our reality. A low shoulder for comfort, a tight arm length and a straight fall.

You will see in a few paragraphs, we have designed it so that it fits perfectly with your outfits.

All that remained was to find a material for our collaboration.

When Benoît told me what he had in mind, I saw what it was about, but I said to myself “ I don't think he realizes, it's inaccessible ”.

And yet...!

The choice of fabric: the great thrill of Japan - by Benoît

Be careful, this is heavy!

The fabric of this noragi had to answer a thorny question: which fabric to choose to have a piece that is easy to wear, without crazy colors, while retaining personality?

To do this, it was necessary to find a Japanese supplier completely under the French radar.

We found an old Japanese workshop, over 100 years old, so old school in its methods that Boras thought it was a museum (see below).

To put it simply, we are using a usual production process: the cotton arrives in fiber, in a bale, so they are spun. So far, so good.

Then comes a key step for this type of very vintage handmade fabric: dyeing.

Boras will tell you about the emotion he had seeing the production, but first let me explain how it happens.

According to Boras' photos and the interpreter's explanation, it is a step halfway between 100% manual (hand dyeing) and 100% mechanized as with the major Japanese suppliers of denim fabric.

In fact, the skeins are placed on hooks by hand and then dipped into vats of indigo. This is the “rope dyeing” technique, this technique which gave the Japanese a lot of trouble when they started wanting to create a denim fabric 100% made in Japan in the 80s.

The whole challenge is to dye the outside of the yarn, but not the core , in order to have a very good washing potential.

In a classic Japanese factory, this is a step which is completely mechanized (and which requires heavy installations). Here, the fact that part of the process is done by hand still adds a whole bunch of nuances and irregularities in the color: it's just beautiful!

(Boras will come back to this point, don't worry)

In terms of indigo, it is a natural and synthetic mixture, to have a good mix between patina, color resistance over time and… a price that is not stratospheric.

After dyeing, drying the yarns in the sun plays an important role in the final result. Indeed, depending on the clouds, if it is a clear sky or not, the quantity of light received will not be quite the same, which will generate beautiful shades of color.

The threads are then woven on 1950s machines which, you guessed it, go much slower than other looms.

Given this reduced speed, there is less tension and more irregularity, which creates that “hand weaving” feeling that I love so much.

Legend also has it that this way of weaving creates tiny air pockets between the cotton fibers, giving this fabric higher thermal insulation properties (cooler in summer, and warmer in winter) than a traditional fabric. classic cotton...

It is also a fabric that becomes more and more comfortable with use, as it develops a patina.

But creating a beautiful 100% cotton fabric like this is not a simple matter of processes and machines.

And as part of this collaboration, given that Boras was visiting Japan for the first time, I wanted him to talk about what he saw, experienced and felt when he arrived there.

So here is his story…

The trip to Japan, the trip of a lifetime - by Boras

We wanted to learn more about this subject and see it more closely. When the team told me “ Boras, you will be available in October to go to Japan ”.

Neither one nor two “ what day are we leaving?” ".

Thanks to our two Juliens , we managed to have a prototype of our noragi ready the day before departure.

A frantic race between negotiation with the Portuguese workshop and rework during the night. 2 a.m. everything is packed, I can close my eyes for a few hours before meeting the BonneGueule team at the airport.

I spend 11 hours on the flight without really sleeping, I refine the looks that we are going to shoot and inevitably, my mind is boiling. Manga, video games and fashion, I have always had Japan as a backdrop to my life, without ever going there.

I'm eager to.

Landing at 7 a.m. local time.

Although I live in Paris, I am never as happy as away from a big city. I'm dreading Tokyo deep down. When you've waited a long time for something, you can quickly fantasize about it.

A slap in the face, for the first time, from the first steps, I had the impression of feeling in the right place. There is a tranquility that I have not found in any other megalopolis.

I am aware that I have only seen a small piece of the city, with my tourist's eyes (well, we worked hard to bring you all the images haha), but this know-how of living together does a lot of good.

The city is teeming, but you don't feel suffocated. The modern world rubs shoulders with the old, and despite all this concrete, there is not a moment when greenery is not in sight. It's something that struck me. Despite strong urbanization, the city remains green.

Thinking about it, what I like about the approach to Japanese clothing, I found it in Tokyo.

And as you wander around Harajuku and the surrounding neighborhoods, you'll be amazed. Not necessarily by focusing on people, men and women, with super sharp looks.

No, it's the general style that is striking. Even removing the decor, we know that we are no longer in France.

If we leave aside the workers in black suits and the children in uniform, it's a flow of all different outfits. The silhouettes are looser, relaxed and the looks are really varied.

Obviously, I who love volumes, feel at home.

A certain stylistic freedom emerges which pleases me. The feeling that you can do whatever you want and just enjoy it.

Best of all, there is something for all tastes and styles.

Ultimately, this is found in Japanese brands, which are very heterogeneous and know-how preserved in Japan despite a taste for innovation. The shops are a beautiful showcase of this way of seeing fashion.

Enough to make you impatient to visit this mysterious workshop.

Visiting the small Japanese workshop - by Boras

By talking to you about this unique subject, Benoit has already told you quite a bit.

My mission will be to take you with me.

By taking the Shinkansen , I didn't think that 3 hours later, I would find myself a century back in time. A space-time journey, nothing more, nothing less.

We finished the drive to reach this small town in the Japanese countryside. The houses all have these traditional roofs, wood is omnipresent and greenery is even more anchored in the decor. Rivers cut through the village, a former stronghold of Japanese textiles.

I am welcomed by Nobuhiro, the owner of the place and his mother Masako. They don't speak English, not even a word. Add to that a relative shyness and I have the feeling that few Westerners must have visited them.

He invites us to visit a first place, an old building.

It's really dark there, streaks of natural light mixing with those of old neon lights. Time seems to have stopped.

Here and there there are dusty boxes, forgotten rolls of fabric and other bales of cotton. The smell reminds me of an old abandoned printing house where I used to play as a kid. Former spinners sit in the middle of this.

Nobuhiro explains that he will give us a demonstration.

I'm excited, we'll be able to discover first-hand what things were like a century ago. After all, it’s still a “client” visit and you have to put on a show.

I discover the first steps which consist of washing the raw cotton which arrives in a bale. Several steps and different water temperatures are necessary to relax the wire. I can touch the material as I go.

From there, we head towards an old machine that seemed broken to me. A button pressed and there it comes to life, weaving a sort of spider's web.

It is a superb sight: slowly, the raw cotton is separated and spun into regular thread. The machine takes out the ropes at its own pace. There was time before, obviously.

From there, we move on to a part that will definitely speak to you: dyeing this thread. And I think you suspect that we're going to talk about indigo. A very special technique called rope dying. All the old-fashioned way without automated machines.

This involves dyeing the rope thread by dipping it in indigo baths. The time and number of baths will vary depending on the desired shade. The particularity is that the yarn will not be dyed in depth and will therefore be subject to more nuanced color variations over time.

At this stage, my eyes are full of it, the indigo already has crazy reflections, even though it hasn't yet taken to the air. Because yes, upon contact, it will oxidize and take on the color we know.

But this is precisely the step that awaits us, Nobuhiro invites us to follow him outside.

And there, the interactive museum-style visit takes on a whole new dimension.

I am in front of hundreds of indigo-dyed ropes, stretched over dozens of long bamboo branches.

I realize that from the beginning, he has been showing me his daily life and how his workshop works. And that it wasn't a museum.

My heart is palpitating. At this precise moment, I realize that I am experiencing something unique, but above all that we are going to bring you something really crazy.

As if I were leaving my bubble, suddenly I hear a slow and regular mechanical noise, it emanates from a second building where I am invited to enter.

I find myself in a brighter space where 4 or 5 looms from the 50s play their parts. In the middle, a single man who passes from one machine to another, his gesture sure and precise.

Further away, a woman who could be my grandmother. A shy smile and she returns to place the indigo ropes on a wheel which transforms them into balls ready to be woven.

While walking around, I come across a roll being made, it's our material, with a brown weft thread. I can see before my eyes the shuttle weaving this material minute after minute.

There, everything that Benoît explained to you above takes shape and you understand why, we are completely excited by what we have in our hands.

Chatting a little more after the visit, I learned that it is a family business that is 120 years old and that there are only three of them maintaining it. Nobuhiro's modesty gives way to emotion when he shows me photos of the family and the workshop before.

He explains that it is increasingly difficult to keep this know-how alive. The two workers have been there for 40 and 50 years, which they do not want to stop, because “ it’s their whole life ”.

And there aren't many people scrambling to take over.

This is also why it takes several months to make a roll of these materials. And without being sensational, I realize that by bringing this material back to France, we are doing more than designing high-end clothing.

A tea, a gift of fabric and then it’s time to leave.

I collapse on the train, happy with this adventure and now convinced that with BonneGueule, we have just brought you something unique.

How to wear our noragi? - by Benoît

For now, the right question would be “ what not to wear it with?” ”

With the prototype, I quickly realized that as soon as you have a somewhat casual wardrobe, the capabilities are very vast.

To put it simply, consider its use as that of an overshirt (over a t-shirt or a shirt), or even a little light outerwear (for example over a sweatshirt).

As for pants, whether they're chinos, jeans, cargo, treat yourself!

And as for shoes, sneakers, work boots, or any other shoe that does not belong to 100% formal (although Boras posted an outfit with loafers), will mix very well with a noragi!

Boras' suggestions

When we sat down to discuss how we were going to write this article and share this adventure with you, Benoît asked me to show that the noragi was a piece accessible to everyone.

As you may have read, in the meantime, he had a bit of fun with the prototype and I'm sure he would talk about it just as well as I do now.

Noragi could be synonymous with versatility!

You don't need to have or want a Japanese style to wear it with panache (I'm borrowing the Jordan gimmick ).

Let's forget the Japanese word and replace it with " collarless work jacket " or " buttonless cardigan ." You will see that it demystifies this piece in a few seconds.

Visualize outfits where you could have worn a denim jacket or cardigan and practice putting on our noragi instead.

SO ?

It works, you see.

With this collab, we wanted to offer you a piece that is strong in appearance, but easy to wear. The cut has been designed to blend in with both a slim fit and looser wardrobe. And this material, beyond its exclusivity, is purely BonneGueule on paper.

I'm betting that once you've tried it, you'll make it your jacket for the next few months!

Boras' outfits… commented by Boras

Note from Benoit: this is a shoot in two locations: in Tokyo and in Perche, with Boras' parents.

Outfit #1: Walk in Tokyo

We were talking about versatility, here is an example. An outfit with an Oxford shirt and velvet pants where a navy wool cardigan would look great. Well, our noragi plays this role and brings another flavor to the outfit:

Outfit #2: walk in a Perche field

Typically an outfit that I enjoy wearing when the weather is nice. The noragi is the piece that gives character to the outfit, basic, but in light and subtle tones.

Bleach jeans are worn a size larger, but this would also work well less loose or on a semi-slim fit. This is an example of a simple style that the noragi sublimates.

Outfit #3: the link between Tokyo and Perche

We worked on this noragi so that it fits into this month's releases. A more workwear outfit, but with a certain refinement in the materials.

Shades of indigo are a winning combo with the washed olive color of cargo. The shoes bring visual weight to the silhouette and a welcome touch of color.

Note from Benoit: this is the same outfit as our shoot in Tokyo! And since I like this atmosphere, I'll give you a layer of it:

Outfit #4: afternoon in the countryside

Noragi and a shirt are a winning combination. Here the officer collar goes well with the particular neckline of the noragi. The camel fatigue pant provides contrast, both in color and style. The tapered cut energizes the silhouette.

Don't be intimidated: “a noragi is like a cardigan”

Noragi is your friend! This is really what I would like you to take away from this collaboration, and as you can see, it was a very great adventure for us.

Congratulations to:

• Boras for going to the ends of the earth to check the quality of the fabric, and for his vision of noragi
• Julien de Borali for his technical expertise in terms of fit
• our collection manager Julien who valiantly fought against deadlines and the countless pitfalls linked to production,
• Charlotte, Julien's assistant, who had to support Julien and me under stress

In short, it's a collaboration that I'm incredibly proud of, as it ticks all the boxes that are dear to BonneGueule: materials that have a history, human values, complementarity of our brand universes.

Boras and Julien's passion for noragi combined with our experience in Japanese sourcing gave birth to a historic piece (yes yes, let's not be afraid of words) in the history of BonneGueule collaborations.

The final word by Boras

With Borali, we wanted to offer pieces that are unusual in France, without any product concessions. BonneGueule did not hesitate for a single second.

This collaboration is ambitious, betting on the noragi of a young label and working hard to bring back such confidential material, we had to dare. It's hard to find the words as I can't wait to see you with it.

This collab is a concentrate of why I invest myself in clothing: passion, authenticity, curiosity and the desire to do things well. Ah and obviously, thank you Benoît. I say it in front of your readers: your kindness is not a legend and I am super proud to have thrown a coin together (you know my modesty haha).

How to get our BonneGueule x Borali noragi?

See you this Saturday, May 30 from 11 a.m. on our e-shop .

See you soon on the other side,

Benedict