30% of men in France wear and like to wear briefs. Guillaume Gibault was surely not aware of this when he launched Le Slip Français in 2011, which was in fact the result of a bet.
Since then, Internet campaigns have continued, hijacking, in particular, the PS electoral campaign in 2012: the change of underwear is now .
French Slip campaign of 2012.
Recently, they launched the good-smelling brief (underwear that releases a scent on contact with the skin, for up to 30 washes). Based on the same technology that Naked & Famous uses, and which we have already told you about.
Collaborations also follow one another: Princesse Tam Tam, Claudie Pierlot, Agnès b., Vuarnet, and even Obut (the pétanque balls).
Guillaume Gibault is alsoLéon Flam , a brand he took over from his grandfather, who manufactured luggage for Aéropostale pilots (recently in collaboration with Chevignon).
More recently, he created Monsieur Marcel , an e-shop/online magazine.
You will have understood, Guillaume never stops. And that’s what motivated us to meet him to talk about entrepreneurship with him. In this interview, Guillaume Gibault talks to us:
- of its business model, and gives us advice on how to successfully launch your business,
- of the Internet, and in particular how to succeed in being profitable on the web,
- the advantage of being a vertically integrated company,
- made in France (basic phenomenon or buzz of the moment?),
- by Monsieur Marcel and Léon Flam.
And you can discover here the sites of Slip Français , Monsieur Marcel , and Léon Flam .
Transcription of the interview with Guillaume Gibault
Guillaume Gibault: Hi Geoffrey.
Geoffrey: Could you please introduce yourself a little?
Guillaume Gibault: Of course. So Guillaume, I'm 28 years old, I'm Parisian. I put together several boxes. The first and spearhead being Le Slip Français, which is a luggage brand called Léon Flam, and an online concept store called Monsieur Marcel.
Geoffrey: What came first actually?
Guillaume Gibault: First, it’s Léon Flam. I tried to set up my company, looked for a cool idea, and I discovered that my great-grandfather – which I didn't know – made luggage for Aéropostale pilots. So there, I said to myself: come on buddy, you’ve found an idea, we have to go for it.
Geoffrey: And why did you suddenly set up Le Slip Français and Monsieur Marcel behind it?
Guillaume Gibault: Well, because in fact what is the hardest in my sense of entrepreneurship is really the first year where you have nothing to sell, where you have no site, you start . And obviously, you have a lot of ideas coming at the same time. I made a slightly stupid bet with my friends to start Le Slip Français which took off straight away. And at the same time, I said to myself, a bit like Bonne Gueule, I said to myself: the blog is really a good thing, we can really build a loyal readership, try to build a community. And so Monsieur Marcel started off kindly on his side. Then in the end, everything took a bit at the same time, so I found myself having three parallel projects at the same time. It's honestly not easy. Fortunately I have partners with whom things go well, but it was perhaps a bit ambitious to want to do three things at the same time.
Geoffrey: How did the idea come about to make all these super funny videos with the chef's surprise and everything?
Guillaume Gibault: It came a bit by chance like a lot of good things that happen to us. The beginning was the presidential campaign where we said to ourselves, we saw the slogans come out, we saw the change, it's now from François Hollande. We said to ourselves: let's make a joke, let's change our underwear now. And we had to shoot the slightly funny PS video. And in fact, I realized that beyond just making content for social networks, it was creating content but behind it, it was generating revenue directly because we sell online. So creating Internet content brings people to the site, it creates traffic, and therefore sales. And I said to myself, there really is a model to explore, there are few brands that do it. Creating content for the brand on the Internet generates a lot of buzz. And it will create notoriety but above all turnover. And I think that as a result, it's a bit of a new model to be able to grow like that.
Geoffrey: How do you come up with your ideas?
Guillaume Gibault: We sit around the table and imagine what stupid things we can do. We draw inspiration from lots of things. We read lots of blogs, we read lots of magazines, we are on social networks all the time. Trying to find lots of ideas, new brands, looking abroad, you have to have sources of inspiration all the time. But it goes through a lot of things. There, I bought a book that was coming out for Christmas: Franc objects stamped France where there is Sophie Lagirafe and all the things that are a bit French icons. I bought it since I'm looking in there and I'm sure there's a product I'll find to divert. There you have it, trying to find content that is very consistent with the brand but which allows you to tell funny stories.
Geoffrey: Okay. We were discussing economic models the other day, in particular about companies which are vertically integrated, that is to say which process a maximum of operations and which avoid putting too many players between the workshop which produces and the final consumer. Is this something you do, does it concern you?
Guillaume Gibault: It's something that we do since we develop, we manufacture and we distribute. Now it's still really hard to do everything. It is certain that in terms of growth and margin, it is the best. But you need money to finance all that. There is the manufacturing cycle which is long. On top of that, it takes time to develop the products, it’s complicated. And then in distribution, when we control everything as was the case at the beginning, a little via the Internet, it's great because in terms of margin, it's actually more efficient. But if you want to grow a little quickly, you still have to distribute yourself a minimum in physics and multiply the distribution points. So yes, I believe in it on the direction. But when starting out, it's good to start with a store anyway. That helps speed things up.
Geoffrey: So, they are essentially communication tools, stores or?
Guillaume Gibault: It’s two things. It's yes, a communication tool in the sense that when we see the product in a store, well, we don't necessarily buy it at the moment. You can buy it on the Internet where you see it, then you see it again in a store so you end up integrating the product. So, yes, it has a communication effect but it is also a volume effect. We have a job where the more we produce, the better we buy. So, we need to manufacture even more parts and obviously, when we are distributed throughout Europe that's a lot of volume. So, there are two good reasons, I think, for us to be in a physical network.
Geoffrey: For Léon Flam luggage, you chose to have distributors like department stores, like certain high-end boutiques. Why in fact what worked for the Brief works until a moment with the accessory?
Guillaume Gibault: Because these are products that are much more expensive and for which there is much more competition. And the concept is strong too but less disruptive. So, here, we manage to create buzz and grow super quickly with a product that doesn't cost very much and is easy to sell on the Internet. On the other hand, you have to build yourself over time, establish your notoriety. And it's true that for high-end or even almost luxury brands, people expect to see them in department stores. They will look once, twice, three times, like Japanese buyers, like distributors. That's it, it's part of the life cycle of a brand to go through these stages to establish its notoriety. Unfortunately, we can go against the grain on some things, but not on everything.
Geoffrey: In recent years, there has been a lot of talk about made in France, about brands that relocate. Do you think it's a real fundamental phenomenon or that ultimately, it's more about image issues in general for a brand?
Guillaume Gibault: I think there are two things. I think there is a real underlying trend where in the end, quite a few manufacturers realize that manufacturing in China, yes, it costs a lot less but there is a lot of transport, a lot of delays and sometimes, a lot of misunderstandings. So in the end, they think they will save money and time. But in fact, they waste a lot of time, so in the end they don't make that much money. So, I think that there are quite a few people who are relocating because their real know-how remains in France, there are still people who are ready to work. So if we use them well and manage to make them work well, their additional cost can be offset by all the other advantages they offer. Now, it's grafted onto that. The very phenomenon made in France, Arnaud Montebourg and all that. And so, there are a lot of brands that came out saying “I’m going to be made in France, I’m going to rock the house”. So, it can work initially if we're just made in France because we have plenty of press releases, when there's a buzz. Afterwards, the fundamentals of a brand are not to have one dimension but full: a good product, a good price, good communication, a good marketing mix and in addition, a good story telling where you manufacture to tell. If you have lots of dimensions that carry your brand, well I think you can build yourself over time, and then depending on the fashions, rely on the different dimensions of your brand. I think that's what makes big luxury brands last so long. When you're just a white t-shirt made in France, well yes, it works when everyone talks about made in France. When we no longer talk about it, if the t-shirt has nothing special, it's complicated.
Geoffrey: When you have young readers who come to you and say: Guillaume, I want to start a brand on made in France or on a product that is rather simple to design at the beginning like the t-shirt, you, you What reaction do you have and what advice would you give them?
Guillaume Gibault: Well already, I congratulate them because I think it’s good. And so, my first response is to try to help them and actually take my time to give my opinion on what they are doing. Now, I always say, waste maybe three months looking for the really good idea, the real thing that will make your concept really different and then launch something very strong rather than launching out and saying: I'll see how I find my little twist to make it hard, that doesn't work.
Geoffrey: But often people say to themselves: I have a product that is simpler to make than a piece of Léon Flam-type luggage or a piece with sleeves or a coat, etc., and as a result they struggle a bit on huge competition, on low-cost products. Today, would you advise someone to start with small products that are easy to make but have a lot of competition or to go straight to more complicated pieces but as a result, does that create value?
Guillaume Gibault: No, I think that to start, when you start from nothing, as was my case, I think it is better to start with simpler products. Now you absolutely need a very good concept. The very good concept can be applied to a complicated product or a simple product, therefore, to choose at best a simple product which does not cost much to manufacture, but on the other hand put the dose of concept and really find the thing which will make that what we talk about it in magazines, that people talk about it to their friends, and that... Because in fact with the Internet, we forget that we have to be a trader. You have to have a good product, a good price, be able to sell it and that remains the basis of everything. And if we say to ourselves: yes, there is the Internet, there is Facebook, that's really not true. If the product is good, well yes, it will speed up. If there is no product, there is no concept. So it won't do any good.
Geoffrey: Do you think there will still be niches if it's done well for a t-shirt brand or.
Guillaume Gibault: Yes, I believe there are slots for everything. Fortunately.
Geoffrey: I also kind of wanted to discuss Monsieur Marcel with you. Can you present this concept a little?
Guillaume Gibault: Mr. Marcel, this is something that we are trying to do very modern. It is both an e-shop and an online magazine. In fact, I said several things to each other with my partner Gaspard and now another one called Enguerand, we have several things. We said to ourselves: pure web players are still a complicated job. That is to say, when you are only a distributor, you acquire traffic with advertising on the web. You spend a lot of money to generate sales. Yes it works. But in fact, once again, we are being fooled a bit by the Internet. We say to ourselves: it's great, I'm advertising on the web, I'm making money. But if you buy posters 4 by 5 in the metro, you will also make money but it will cost you twenty thousand euros. So, in fact, by spending 15, 20, 30, 50 euros per day on Adwords, we do not realize that in fact, we have real advertising budgets, whereas once again, the real law of commerce it’s to say: I’m building my business. When I manage to generate results, I keep part of it on the job to do communications, and on that, I grow. It's not: I take it from the start to do communications and I grow with it. And for me, that’s the business model of pure web players. That means I spend money first, then I just get customers. I think that what you need is to once again have a real product, a real offer and a real different positioning which means that you will attract people. On this, you will save time and a little money, and then you start to communicate. So, finally, that's how we see it and we said to ourselves: how can we create a community and try to bring people back without spending money on the Internet. This is really the logic of blogs and Bonne Gueule is clearly well placed to know it. Let's create content, let's create real content that people will come to see for the content and use this traffic to make it profitable by doing e-commerce which in my opinion is a good way to monetize the audience since advertising, It's still complicated, it doesn't bring in a lot of money. So, we said to ourselves: if we manage to create an audience and we manage to put products that appeal to this audience in front of us, we should be able to make a return on the energy we spend developing this traffic. . The guideline is an e-shop for men, fashion, decoration, accessories. We find all the gift ideas in the world and at the same time, we will find cool content on life style in the broad sense.
Geoffrey: I have the impression that it's quite current because you're the first I think, but very quickly, there were two, three other guys who also followed in your footsteps like the little ones franchises that we really like, or the Modernists who have an even different but nice product offering too. You see them more as competitors or people with whom you can form partnerships and exchange audiences.
Guillaume Gibault: No, I think we are doing partnerships, audience exchanges. Today, it’s, I think it’s something that doesn’t really exist. I think we all remain small players. We do not have product offers that are exactly the same. I think that the competitors are more the big magazines when they eventually launch their e-shop. Well, competitor or not, in a pinch, perhaps we should definitely go see them, and see how we can collaborate with them. But in any case, it's true that everyone revolves around how to succeed in being profitable on the Internet in fact. So, I don't think anyone really has the solution yet. We'll see. In any case, we start from the principle of saying to ourselves: let's start by not spending any money, so that's already the first way to earn money. That's it, versus saying that because there are a lot of boxes in the business model, that's it eh. It's spending, spending on Adwords and then the cost per click increases, increases, increases. And then, we spend, we spend, we spend. So, yes, we make figures but it costs a lot of money to make figures. So, it's a bit like the snake biting its tail like that.
Geoffrey: You, personal type, do you have media that you read, which enrich you, paper books, or businesses which have helped you or?
Guillaume Gibault: Me, I'm reading two books at the same time, one on paper, one on my phone. There is one, it’s the book by the founder of Patagonia, Yvon Chouinard, called “The Education of a Reluctant Businessman”.
Geoffrey: What is it about then?
Guillaume Gibault: It talks about how he let everyone go surfing and mountaineering at his house and at the same time, he created a huge company. So that’s super cool. And I read another one which is from, I don't remember what the title is, who is the founder of Zappos.
Geoffrey: Ah! It’s “Delivering Happiness.”
Guillaume Gibault: So, I'm reading these two things at the same time, which are making me laugh.
Geoffrey: It comes together
Guillaume Gibault: And then, it’s funny. It's true, I'm quite hyper modern. At home, I have the physical book next to my bed that I read in the evening. And in the metro, as the book is too big to carry, so I read it from time to time.
Geoffrey: Are you considering relocating your offices like the founder of Zappos above a cinema and a KFC?
Guillaume Gibault: He did that because when he was young, he said: when I got old, I would live above a cinema and I would have a TacoBell, I don't know anymore. Cinema, why not. A TacoBell they can die. But that said, we are clearly moving next to him. So, it's not bad.
Geoffrey: It's okay, it's okay. You stay in the spirit.
Guillaume Gibault: Exactly.
Geoffrey: Ok. So thank you very much Guillaume.
Guillaume Gibault: You’re welcome. Thanks to you.
Geoffrey: I hope to see you soon.
Guillaume Gibault: With pleasure.
Geoffrey: Hello!
Guillaume Gibault: Chao!
Cover photo credit: Regis Duvignau/Reuters.
