“Shoes are a bit like the poor relation of fashion”: Maxime Van Rothem, founder of Jacques & Déméter – Déclic #8

(Cover and article photo credit: Aurélie S.)

At the helm of Jacques & Déméter since 2011, Maxime Van Rothem welcomes us into his boutique. It is tastefully decorated with exposed stonework, the atmosphere is cozy, it is the perfect place to try on new shoes and experience a certain idea of ​​quality made in France .

It's a Monday morning, we have just entered the year 2022 and Maxime is busy with small daily tasks. We suddenly put a face to the expression “to be in the oven and at the mill” . As the exchange progresses, we discover a passionate person, who runs his boat alone and wishes to highlight his products rather than his person. For this reason, you will not see Maxime pictured in this interview. However, you can now read it here.

THE JOURNEY, RECONVERSION AND THE FIRST STEPS

“My journey has been strewn with pitfalls. I never really knew what I wanted to do in life. I wasn't bad at school. So I was made to follow a classic path: prep school, engineering school. I ended up in a public works engineering school. I did internships and discovered that public works was not my path. Site visits at 6 a.m., glasses of white wine at 6:30 a.m., and finding yourself a little drunk at 8:30 a.m. was a bit strange.

For me there was an alternative, switching to a pseudo-world of finance through an auditor's firm. What I did in 2008. A permanent contract at the time of the financial crisis was rather reassuring! Except that I lasted two years.

In 2010, I was 25 years old, I met my girlfriend at the time with whom I created Démeter. I left this job on a permanent contract to create this project. Having resigned, I was not entitled to anything. For six months, I did odd jobs: warehouse worker at Zara or H&M . I sent CVs everywhere to try to get back into the fashion industry . But with my profile, I wasn't too welcome.

We finally embarked on business creation from November/December 2010. The first version of the online site and the first models were launched in October 2011. The little wink is that the store was opened in October 2021. By chance, within three days, it was the brand's 10th anniversary .

Things started to go well when we managed to validate funding via Ulule at the end of 2014. From there, the curve was rather upward but the first three years were very, very chaotic.

We made shoes because we didn't come from that background at all, neither my ex-partner nor I. We couldn't see ourselves drawing silhouettes. So we focused on an accessory that we both liked: shoes. We had little technical knowledge.

We started with a first workshop which didn't take us too seriously. I was 25, she was 24. They took us for daddy's boys, who didn't really know what to do with their lives, with parents who paid them crazy money in that. We had to explain to them that we had real jobs, that we had resigned, that we had given up everything for that .

It must be said what is: the first designs were unsuccessful, the shoes were not very beautiful. As we manufactured in France, we still managed to be supported. We also learned a lot. I spent hours, days and nights reading books, stuff on the Internet, just learning and doing the training I never had.

It didn't go very well with this first workshop. We found another one, that didn't go so well either. As we progressed technically , we knew more and more what we wanted and we saw that they couldn't do it.

At the beginning, we made men and women . After two and a half years, we saw that things were struggling, that we couldn't really afford to pay. As I was reaching the end of my unemployment rights, I worked on weekends in a hotel. My parents told me “it’s your problem now!” You had a job, you wanted to quit, you managed! ".

She was a trained graphic designer. She was therefore doing freelance graphic designer services at the same time. After a while, we said, “Okay, let’s arrest the woman!” because the world of women's shoes and men's shoes have absolutely nothing to do with each other. When you have a small structure, it's quite complicated to address both audiences at the same time : you have neither the time nor the means.

We tried one last thing, remade a collection of 10-12 men's models with a new workshop which is the one with which we still work today. We did crowdfunding, just to validate with the public whether there was reason to continue or not. It really was a last chance and... it went well! Then, we developed accessories, new models. It was a more classic path . There are still problems but it’s less chaotic.”

LEARNING AND INTERNET RESOURCES

“ It was probably the fact of having been quite ignorant about the shoe at the start that allowed me not to be cold. I didn't know it was so complicated to do! Made in France also has a huge advantage: there is no problem of communication or proximity with the people with whom we work. I spent a lot of time in the workshops, talking to lots of people.

It's like in the automobile industry: there are plenty of subcontractors. There are people who only make welts, others who only make this or that piece. People were very happy to see that there were still young people trying to have things made in France rather than going where others are going to have shoes made. They spent a lot of time explaining things to us.

The Internet is an incredible thing for learning. Without the Internet, I would have had to spend my days and nights in libraries without necessarily having access to old books which are perhaps no longer even available. It was only a matter of time: we had to survive to learn, progress and put it all together . »

THE BLOG, EXPERTISE AND ADVICE

“ When I was doing Ulule, I met Robin Hanna who was then working at BonneGueule. While talking with me, he realized that I had learned a lot of things and he told me that I should make a blog. It validated my “expertise”. That's a big word: even after 10 years, I'm far from knowing everything . I'm still learning more every day. But in short, there was the idea of ​​showing a little behind the scenes, of explaining how it was done .

If I had discovered that it was complicated to make a shoe, I told myself that I was far from being the only one who didn't know what it meant. The idea was therefore to provide resources on this subject . There was also a very pragmatic side: the magic of natural referencing, which means that when you write things, you are referenced, you gain visibility, etc. It all feeds on itself. We are trying to create a virtuous circle.

I still had two or three guidelines: I don't talk about others, I can't be judge and jury because I have a shoe brand. I am often asked for my opinion: “what do you think of this or that brand?” ". Of course, I necessarily have an opinion but I keep it to myself.

So there you have it, the idea was to give keys, not to talk about others and to have a purely technical aspect. I am not the champion of good taste or style and I am no one to say how to dress or what shoes to wear.

“If you want shoes for hiking, you have to pay attention to that, if you want dress shoes, that’s what counts,” etc. It was more of that order. Above all, don't say "There you go, this is the extraordinary model for this, you have to wear it with this color or with this item of clothing!" ". I'm no one to give style advice. I have no legitimacy in that. On a purely technical aspect, I'm starting to have two or three bases, but in terms of style I don't like being given advice. So I don't like to give it to others. »

THE CLICK, THE FIRST SHOES

“The first time I started wondering about shoes was at the end of my studies, during my first internship. I had to go to work in a suit. I had no suit, no shoes. I had nothing and it was the first time.

I remember going to Galeries Lafayette. I bought a pair of shoes that weren't cheap at the time, €300-350, something like that. I kept it for eight months and I was quite disappointed. Before that, I only wore sneakers. I'm not going to take off my shoes to show my feet, but the ravages of sneakers on teenagers clearly don't feel good.

In short, I only kept my first pair of shoes for eight months and I said to myself “But how is this possible? ". Still, I tried to do things right. My father explained to me how to polish his shoes to go to work. He likes his shoes to be neat. I had shoe trees, etc. But I only had one pair, I wore them all the time.

That's when I started digging, discovering other brands, seeing that there were brands with shoes that were worth 50 balls and others 5,000 . It's a world that I didn't know at all. It's relatively recent: I was 23 when I finished my studies. »

3D VS 2D, SHOES RATHER THAN CLOTHING

“ I’m not planning on doing a full locker room. It was very naive at the time but for me, the shoe remained a touch in an outfit . When we walk in the street, we see lots of people who are going to be careful, who are making an effort on their clothes, their coats, etc. But in general, as soon as you look at their feet, it can quickly turn into a disaster. Shoes are a bit like the poor relation of fashion .

“In the end, if I have some money left or if I think about it, maybe I'll buy some shoes.” It's rarely the first thing we think of. For the majority of people, at least. I'm obviously a little biased, I tend to quickly look at people's shoes .

In any case, there was no desire to expand. But we made belts. There is legitimacy. It's still leather work, even if it's much simpler. This allows us to offer belts that can more or less match with your shoes.

Clothing, on the other hand, I know nothing about . I know what I read but I clearly don't have enough technical background to make clothes and it simply doesn't interest me that much. There are clothes that are more technical than others but it remains 2D, flat .

I prefer when there is 3D , it's funnier. There is a volume to work on. I use shapes, which are what they are. But you can more or less taper them, shorten them, give them volume or crush them. There is a game about it. On the same bases, we can make lots of shoe models that will have absolutely nothing to do with each other, just by playing on the volumes for example. The possibilities are almost endless . Then, if we play with textures and materials, we can have fun. For me, clothing is not at all the same profession.

Do I really want to start from scratch? To relearn everything in another field? I'm not sure I would have the courage. We can't do everything either: my days are only 24 hours long, I don't have enough time. At the beginning, we wanted to disperse ourselves by making men and women. But I think the best thing is to try to focus on one thing and do it as best as possible . I think it's better like this. »

SHOE CARE, FROM FATHER TO SON

“ My father had a job where he had to be pretty clean, so his shoes were always perfect. The first few times, I happened to go see my parents after work because they live in the Paris region. I went to bed, left my shoes downstairs and when I woke up in the morning, they were perfect.

It made my father a little crazy to see my disgusting shoes and to think that I was going to work like that. As he got up very, very early, it kept him busy in the morning: he shined my shoes while shining his own. This is where I discovered that clean, well-maintained shoes look better even if they aren't very nice to begin with . That’s how I got my foot in the door. One thing led to another, as I didn't like the job I was doing that much, there were connections that were made.

Coming back to maintenance, there are plenty of people who spend a lot of time maintaining their shoes. For my part, I admit that I take care of my things but I find it difficult to spend hours there . At first I spent a lot of time waxing them as I accumulated models. Over time, I realized that it was taking me a huge amount of time and that I was enjoying it less.

They were very formal shoes. I wore costumes for two years, so that inoculated me a little. If you work five days a week, you don't have a ton of free time. If you spend two hours there, that's already a lot unless it's really a huge pleasure . This is why I tend to look for materials that require little maintenance .

Dress shoes, in a professional setting, for an evening or an event, we are obliged to take good care of them, whether they are beautiful, etc. Even on leathers that require less maintenance, there is always a minimum to do to try to keep them for a long time. I have a very pragmatic approach to maintenance now: the goal is to ensure that the shoes last as long as possible. There will always be something to do, even on leathers which have a very raw appearance and which patina a lot.

If we don't do anything, there's always a moment when things give up. It's like a car, a fridge: there are two or three things to do to try to keep them for a long time. That being said, I like the object. I like the way it lives and ages with its wearer but maintenance is more and more of a constraint for me. It's less and less a pleasure. You definitely have to do it, eh: I'm not saying that you shouldn't take care of your shoes! But there are materials and leathers that allow you not to spend half an hour there every week. »

FORMAL VS CASUAL: THE CURRENT TREND

“ I am influenced like everyone else by what happens around us. I've never been a big fan of the costume. The first costumes I had when I started working in 2005, I must still have them. I never took them out again but it can't be a big success. They don't have to be the most beautiful costumes in the world, far from it.

Now I have to have two. I don't know if they still fit me - they were for weddings , funerals and other one-off events. In two months, I think I've only seen two guys come in in suits , and even then we're talking about suits without ties! It's accelerating more and more given that there are people who spend half the week at home, teleworking.

There is a search for comfort and non-constraint . You can be very comfortable in a suit, but no matter what suit you choose, if you compare it to jogging, after a while, in terms of comfort, you can't play. The trend is that we are moving towards something more and more casual . »

SNEAKERS, A LONG-STANDING PASSION

“ We ended up going there. I had long resolved not to do it. With a traditional shoe brand, the sneaker is often missed, with a hybrid appearance between a real shoe and a sneaker . This is not beautiful. It’s a bias that isn’t bias. We find ourselves with our ass between two chairs and since they are not at all the same ways of manufacturing, it is complicated for a workshop that makes a certain type of shoes to make running shoes. We are changing the manufacturing processes.

It took a long time to set up. That being said, they live in the same world as us, they realize that the black cap-toe oxford that they once sold by the shovels sells much less. We cannot hide the fact that sneakers have become a huge market share .

I've always liked sneakers , I wear them all the time, I love them. So I tried. It took a long time. We started with a first very summery sneaker, in fabric, to do something simple, which lays the foundations for something. We developed running runs in parallel, which took much longer to develop. Between the time we talked about it and the time they came out, two years passed. It's not exactly two years of development, we were making progress little by little. We experimented but couldn't get what I wanted.

So I bought pairs of sneakers from brands that I like and I said to them, “There you go, do what you want, you can take them apart, wear them, this is what a sneaker is and what it has to happen when you put your foot in it.” When we took them apart, they highlighted certain things about sneakers that we all consume that are not well made, not good for foot support, not good for durability. We tried to change that to make sneakers that last longer, without distorting the spirit .

If we make sneakers and when we put them on, we feel like we have a wooden board on our feet, that's not the goal. The idea is for it to be a little comfortable. There was real work on the philosophy, on the manufacturing and design of a pair of shoes . This is especially what took time, more than the development. »

LOYALTY, MECHANICS AND THE RELATIONSHIP WITH THE WORKSHOP

“ It’s essential with my manufacturer. If I want to stay in France, I do n't have a billion choices . And what makes our strength (I say we because we are linked, I need them and they need me a little too), is that we have a variety that you won't find it anywhere else : you go from running shoes to double-assembled ankle boots, to Norwegian stitching. There is no brand or workshop in France that can offer me so much variety in manufacturing, in the choice of materials used.

There's a lot of mechanics , too. When you have an assembly on a certain type of leather, the machine will not be adjusted in the same way for another type of leather. You need machines dedicated to this part of the manufacturing of such a model. The factory is gigantic, there are not very many of them, there are 10 of them, but there are machines everywhere which are set up for an operation, for a particular model.

We try to develop models but we cannot distort everything every time. As soon as we develop new models, there is a whole part behind it regarding development, mechanics, etc. The idea is to succeed in making a model, a “hit” to draw a parallel with the music , that it rotates as much as possible. This is where things go well, where the factory earns money, where it can create jobs. There is a whole virtuous circle that is taking place . But the development is a financial pit, especially when it is done in France.

The studio I work with believed in me when I showed up at the time with my three photos and my three ideas. I said I wanted to make shoes, they said “OK we’ll follow you”. If they hadn't said yes, I wouldn't be here .

So there is a kind of return of the elevator: if I can succeed in selling shoes, in allowing them to continue to live, for this workshop to continue, I will have succeeded and it will be a way of returning to them the confidence that they granted me . At first, I was nobody. They could have said no. It's a great classic: requests to create brands, they have I don't know how many per month and between those who don't follow through, those who do developments, who don't implement them in France and then go to produce elsewhere...

When we develop models, they lose money. The workshop manager can spend his weekends there, just to fine-tune the model, so that it corresponds to what I want. If I don't make them do series, they will just have lost money. In the end, the crux of the matter is this: if they don't have something running, which allows them to pay the employees, the machines, the factory dies. »

THE CREATIVE PROCESS, BETWEEN INSPIRATION AND PRAGMATISM

“ It doesn’t look like much.” I'll quickly debunk the myth: I can't draw. I don't stand in front of a blank sheet of paper, staring blankly . I am very clumsy. I'm already left-handed and it seems that left-handers are never very very skilled. I don't have a creative soul. I was super frustrated when I was little because I had friends who drew really well. I made figures with sticks .

Seeing that, we said to ourselves “you’re stronger in science, so try to orient yourself that way.” Slightly artistic jobs, you forget, apparently that’s not really your thing.” So, even without knowing how to draw, you can successfully create a shoe brand . In the end, it's not me who draws the models. There are pattern makers, shape makers. I get shapes from the factory. They are in the third generation so they have a very extensive range of shapes. I have the right to dig in and pull out stuff that interests me. For the pattern, a pattern maker is in charge. If it were me it would be a concept but I'm not sure it would work very well.

In short, my way of creating is personal desires with what I see on TV, in the street, on the Internet, anywhere. There are models that jump out at me: “oh hey, that’s cool, maybe we could do something”.

So I have lots of photos. Then it's photomontage. There is a real relationship with the workshop . I'm not just a "hey, this is what I want" order giver. I go there regularly, much less in the last two years, but normally I go there between four and six times a year. Often on a Saturday or Sunday, that way I'm all alone with the workshop boss. You can relax for a whole day. I went back and forth during the day, it was sporty! I came with my ideas, we discussed.

Everything is doable, in fact. We could pretty much do anything and everything . The question is: how long will it take to do? The longer it takes, the more expensive it is . And also: will this be of real interest to the end consumer, the one who will wear the shoes? Will this detail be of interest in the lifespan of the product? Is it aesthetically worth spending so much time doing this? Etc. There are compromises that are made.

The manager of the workshop has been in a workshop since he was 16 , his father already had one before. Technically, I'm going to have a hard time wrestling. It will have a very pragmatic, very manufacturing aspect . In the end, these are compromises. He will sometimes also help me avoid a big mistake by telling me “we're going to spend an hour and a half on each pair, is it really worth it? ".

The models fall into place like this, little by little. We make first drafts, which are more or less successful. There are some who come out and others who don't. You must try. In the end, we submit to the judgment of the public, who approves or not. Finally, the creative process is essentially discussion . »

MUSIC AND SHOES: THE PARALLEL OF THE TUBE

“ I don't know the recipe that makes a shoe model a hit, otherwise I would have already done it. There is something quite paradoxical: the shoes that I sell are there to last and I know that they will last. The problem is that we live in a world where tastes and desires change very, very quickly . The cap-toe brogue, everyone has one in their closet but it's not what we wear every day, it's not what we want to wear. We need it from time to time.

For two or three years, it will be this model that will be the one that everyone wants and we will not have to miss the boat. Certain models were not necessarily hits but they were worn by so-and-so or used in such-and-such a context, which created a stir and the model then became iconic.

Unlike music, I don't think you can release a pair of shoes like that and become a hit overnight. This is something that will be built over time . There are hits that become classics, that we know from generation to generation. And others that last two years. It's pretty much the same for shoes. Hits that last two or three years, I haven't made billions of them but I have songs that are in rotation. I don't have an interplanetary hit yet . I'm working on it. »

SHOES AND HEALTH: THE RAVAGE OF BASKETBALL

“I am well placed to know: until I was 22, I wore sneakers almost exclusively. My feet are crushed, I have a big bump. I had back problems because it has an impact on posture , if your foot is more or less well supported.

When we developed the running shoes and I sent pairs of brands that I liked to wear, the workshop manager tore his hair out: “these are not shoes, there is no nothing works, there is no support, etc. ".

We all have problems with posture, knees, etc. A traditional shoe brand cannot claim to heal the planet , that's not true. We just avoid doing more damage than there already is. If the shoes are well made, they will normally have a minimum of support. They may not be super comfortable, but a pair of shoes from home, I think, will be better in the long run. »

TRADITION, MADE IN FRANCE AND CRAFTSMANSHIP

“ We have an approach to shoe manufacturing that is traditional . You could say old-fashioned. We are not a technical or modern brand. We haven't developed anything that revolutionizes the way shoes are made. We took traditional techniques that have existed since before I was born , and even before my parents were born.

Craftsmanship is something else, it's the other world of shoes, everything that is handmade. The structure I work with, I call it a factory. Handmade or craftsmanship are fashionable terms that are very overused. With us, there is a traditional approach with the techniques used . But there is still a laser cutting table, there are two or three things that do not date from the 1920s. All that is used to make engravings are machines that turn by hand, with gears . It's not modern at all. But besides that, there are also laser cutting tables.

We try to make the best of both worlds but the big problem in shoes is that it is not at all automatable . It is currently impossible to have a shoe factory similar to a car factory, with big robots, where everything is automated, with arms, etc.

There, behind each step, there is always a human being who is not a simple operator. If it was me running the machines, the shoes wouldn't look quite the same! These are knocking machines. It's very physical, very precise. They spend a monstrous amount of time doing mechanics, tuning, adjusting, repairing, training on how to use them because they buy and repair them all the time. There is a huge human dimension. Afterwards, it's not craftsmanship in the sense that they are with a slicer cutting, putting everything together with pliers and sewing by hand. That's called booting and we're no longer quite at the same prices.

There is an association that wants made in France to be necessarily good. Well no. There are areas in which we can still do things well, leather for example, where there is still real know-how. But made in France is not necessarily craftsmanship . There is some but it's akin to haute couture. I don't consider that we make handmade shoes. The term would be overused.

In principle, it is not written anywhere on my site that our shoes are handmade. There are real shoes that are handmade. With us, there is always human intervention which is very important but it is machine-made. The seams and cuts are made by machine. There are parts that are assembled by hand but they are machine finished. It's a man/machine association, it's not handmade . It's like homemade in a restaurant: we overuse this term a little. »

THE SHOES: A HISTORY OF EXPERTISE AND LONG TIMES

“ The world is moving very fast. But it wasn't that long ago that I was still selling shoes that people couldn't see or try on. We had to wait three months because there was very little stock. Despite everything, it didn't go too badly. Maybe it's the made in France guarantee , I don't know, but people know that the brand is far from being huge - there is a point of sale, I'm all alone, we're on a small structure . So of course, if overall people are happy, there are also people who don't have the patience, who end up giving up, which I can understand because I'm not sure that I would have myself -even patience.

Doing things well can take time . This remains production. There are always hazards, things that don't go as planned, machines that break, leathers that don't fit well. If it doesn't go well, you have to start again. If it breaks, it has to be repaired. Having stock can help avoid this. And when we make pre-orders, the lead times are quite long because we try to anticipate the purchases of materials. If the leather is not in stock at the manufacturer or tannery, a batch of leather must be made again. A batch of classic leather is between 4 and 8 weeks roughly. Then there is the preparation of the machines, etc. There has to be a long time .

Afterwards, the shoes I offer are far from cheap. There are people who will never pay that price for a shoe, either because it is beyond them or because they cannot afford it. There is something for everyone : there are more or less good leathers, more or less good manufacturing with an impact on the cost. In any case, a shoe takes a lot of time . From the moment it is made in France as is the case here, we cannot succeed in compensating compared to countries where labor is much cheaper. It is better to try to go to the top, to use top leathers, top manufacturing because there are things that we will never be able to compensate for. As it cannot be automated, there will always be a minimum time per manufacturing, per pair. Basically, I'm not a very patient guy. This is one of the things I've put the most effort into myself: I had to learn patience . »

TECHNIQUE OR STYLE?

“ It depends on the consumer profile. Some people will ask me if a certain pair of shoes goes with jeans and I will answer with my own convictions . On technical questions, there are many. From the moment we give a lot of keys to people, there are inevitably questions: what is the leather like, how is the assembly, how is it repaired, is it waterproof?

On leather shoes, even with waterproof leather, if it rains heavily and you wear them for two days, the leather is saturated with water. If it's to wander the streets of Paris or any city for three hours, it'll do it. But for walking for eight hours in the rain, it's not going to do it. The blog allows you to give keys. This is the advantage and the disadvantage. For the consumer, the disadvantage is that there isn't one pair of shoes that does everything , that goes in all situations, but that's an advantage for me because it also means that you have to several pairs of shoes.

If there was a pair that could do everything, we would all have the same model. All manufacturers would make the same pair of shoes. Depending on the occasion, depending on the intended use, the weather or the time of year, we will not wear the same thing . It allows for variety, it's more fun. Honestly, if we always had the same thing on our feet, it wouldn't be very cool.

Afterwards of course, the shoe fits into an outfit . If clients ask me, I have my personal reasonings but they are not absolute. There are people who will wear my models in a completely different outfit than the one I could think of and it could be very successful. There is no ONE way to wear them . It's the same for a sweater, pants. It's up to everyone to appropriate the object and do with it what they want . »

SHOE CLOSET SHORT INVENTORY

“ We can take anyone's, we pretty much all eat at all the racks, apart from the monomaniacs who have the same model from the same house in 22 colors. If we are all confined forever, we will always need shoes so we will always end up consuming them, whether they are sports shoes, city shoes, or evening shoes. We won't be able to do without it. Someone said "you have to choose your bed and your shoes carefully because if you're not in one, you're in the other", basically. For my part, I always wear the same things because I have reduced a lot.

I don't actually have that many pairs of shoes, if you take away the sneakers. I'm talking about the Jacques & Déméter pairs, which I wear regularly. I have to shoot with eight or ten pairs . I moved personally with the opening of the store, which allowed me to do a major clean-up of what I wore and didn't wear.

In fact, it is my feet that appear on the site, it is me who is in the photo. The samples presented are therefore necessarily in my size. The pairs that I collect are the samples, the prototypes. It's been over a year since I picked one up and it must have been over a year since I bought any clothes. I don't know if it's related to the context or if it's because I'm tired of accumulating things but I've calmed down a bit. 10 pairs of shoes isn't bad , it keeps me going.

If you come to the store, I obviously try to receive pairs from home but I also have lots of sneakers from other brands. Pairs of leather shoes are just Jacques & Déméter. Afterwards I had nothing extraordinary before . I had some not-so-great shoes that I bought over time, others that were at the end of their life and that I kept because I have a hard time throwing things away. The move allowed me to sort things out.

I don't wear moccasins . This is one of the models on which I did a little violence because I was asked to do so. I ended up making some after more or less successful attempts. Otherwise, as I like sneakers, I have a lot of pairs of sneakers at home . I also have a lot of ankle boots because I wear them a lot and since I made a limited series in cordovan, I tried to keep a pair for myself, anyway. »

SHOES, WEATHER AND CONSTRAINT

“ I moved to the suburbs. I come to the store by bike every morning and return every evening. Come rain, come wind. So coming back to my cordovan pair, I have to say that it has no problem with water. At the price of leather and the way it is made, it is still very restrictive to have to go outside before knowing if you are allowed to wear it .

At worst, there will be white spots, but there will be nothing unfixable with a little elbow grease . The water isn't going to kill him, anyway. You have to get started. People are often afraid to buy very expensive leathers like cordovan because they think "it's too clean, it's too nice." But it's meant to be worn. What is certain is that leather is not afraid of water. No leather is afraid of water, given the way it is made .

That is to say, leather spends 90% of its time in ovens shielded with water when it is manufactured. Afterwards, in big cities, rainwater is not necessarily very clean. It may be this dirt that we will have to get rid of, but the rain is not going to kill a pair of shoes . Water will kill a leather sole if you let it soften and then walk on asphalt. It's very bad but the leather on the upper, the upper, it won't hurt it. In short, you have to get started, go for it and with good maintenance, it will do it.

Personally, I find it annoying to have to restrict yourself to wearing this or that pair because you have to watch the weather. For my part, I only look at the weather to know if I should put on my poncho before cycling. But never to choose the pair of shoes I should wear.

When we come by bike and it's cold, I wear nothing other than boots and big wool socks . In short, I don't choose my shoes based on the weather. Also, I don't store them very well. There are plenty of pairs hanging around the living room.

In the morning, once I'm dressed, I say to myself "I'm going to wear these because they're out." There is no ritual. I don't think about what pair of shoes I'm going to wear . It's very spontaneous. I don't have a closet with 250 pairs either. They are in the living room, I try to put shoe trees in the evening when I come home but I admit, I don't do it all the time. It has to be done, that said. At the public price, it is rather advisable to take a little care of the shoes that I take out.

Afterwards, it's true that I mainly collect samples for which I pay little or nothing. I can release around twenty models per year so that can be as many samples. Sometimes there are things that are messed up above. It's also a way to test them: I push them to the limit, I do little maintenance and I see how they age , if the leather or the assembly holds up, if the sole wears out faster than a other. It’s a full-scale crash test.

That being said, the user is of course always responsible for the lifespan of an object . If the thing is poorly designed, poorly thought out, with bad materials, it will not last. But if the person respects certain rules at least, I am quite confident about the lifespan of my shoes . In any case, testing the samples allows me to abuse them. They say that shoemakers are always the worst shod. I'm not a shoemaker but in a way, I respect tradition. »

CLOTHES, SPONTANEITY AND THE UNIFORM

“ I don't put everything in the same machine at 60 degrees just anyhow. I'm just trying not to screw up the sizes. But I recognize that I don't have a very sacred approach to clothing . If I know that I'm going to help with a move or that I'm going to spend my day gardening or whatever, I will of course adapt.

But in the morning, it's mainly based on what's clean, what's in my wardrobe, what I want to wear and that's it. I have a lot of trouble intellectualizing this . I just try not to mess around with color combinations or things like that. It's quite spontaneous, not very thought out.

Since I haven't been buying many things for a while, it's always the same clothes that are in rotation. There are some who might get bored. For my part, I find a kind of comfort there, a “uniform” that comes together by itself, over time . And then there is the pleasure of seeing something age. There are people who gargle and say “I kept jeans for three years” but three years is still not a lot! There's nothing extraordinary about keeping an item of clothing or a pair of shoes for three years.

At one time, I bought a lot of pants because since it's my feet that we see on the site, I didn't want it to be too repetitive. So I have a lot more pants than sweaters or tops . My accountant said to me “it would be good to calm down a little on your pants”. It's been a while since I bought any. By washing them, they become patina and they age. It's cool. There is a long-term connection that is made, rather than always looking for something new, or buying and reselling. Currently, I'm making do with what's in my closet and it's pretty cool. »

RESEARCH AND THE SHOES OF THE FUTURE

“ It’s not at all the same environment or the same profession. But I find it fascinating, especially the focus and research on everything that is sports shoes . Research on running or tennis shoes with incredible features, I find it completely crazy.

At Jacques & Déméter, we don't have the research and development resources at all to develop this kind of thing. For me, it's not the same job. For our part, we will choose the simplest path, and make shoes the way we know how to make them , as we already did them years ago, and as we will continue to do them. We don't know, if it happens in five years, all these new things will be has-been, out of fashion or we will have found a new way of doing things.

The big advantage of the way we chose to offer shoes is that it is timeless . I can't believe this is going away. It will evolve for sure, but this type of shoe was there long before I arrived and will still be there long after I'm gone. I am only passing through this environment . I didn't invent anything about how to design and make a shoe. »

CENTERS OF INTEREST AND RELATIVITY

“ They are relatively classic. I love music. I like cinema, things like that. I don't go skydiving every weekend. I don't have an amazing lifestyle. Shoes were a passion until it became a profession . We no longer have the same relationship with things when we make them our daily life. It's an investment, that's for sure, but on the other hand, I have people in my family who are doctors, who save lives... I just make shoes. It is necessary to relativize. I'm not sending men to Mars. That said, everyday life is very stimulating , very stressful, there are lots of things happening but it's still shoes. I'm not changing the world. But it changes my world. »

CUSTOMERS, EXCHANGE AND HUMILITY

“ Now I see them in real life. It's cool. Before, there was already a very human side because it's made in France, I'm close to the workshop but for the people who wore our shoes, it wasn't the same. I saw a few of them because I used to work from home. I could receive people by appointment, there was a dedicated room at my house. Except that it still depended on my schedule, and then with Covid I wasn't a big fan of seeing people parade at my house.

Now that the shop is open, it's fun: we chat, they give me their names, I know who they are because we sometimes exchanged lots of emails together. I put faces on people who have followed me for a long time and with whom I have already communicated by email. It's more fun. And it's always better to see people .

As for the rest, to my knowledge, I have few clients who only wore flip-flops and who showed up at my house overnight. Spontaneously, there are very few people who come and buy a pair of shoes for €500 like that. They are already more or less informed . It's quite rare that we go from 60 ball sneakers to €600 pairs. There is a journey that takes place between the two , a journey that I have also made. There were hiccups in the middle, that’s how you learn.

In any case, in general, people who come to the store are already well informed. If they find out like that, they come in, they try, they talk, they leave, they come back . There are few very impulsive purchases. Which I can understand, because I rarely buy things at that price very impulsively. I'm not saying it's thought out for six months, but it doesn't take six seconds either. There is a little reflection, obviously . They inquire, go left, right.

When they step foot in there, they realize I'm far from the only one out there. My little pride is having managed to join their brand testing pool, at the age of 10 . But if people stay, it's not thanks to me. It's thanks to the shoes .

I have the ideas, but I'm not the one who makes them. This is why I try to pamper the factory I work with . Everything is not perfect all the time, there are failures, delays, but in the end if people come back, it's because they are happy with the shoes and that's not thanks to me . I have specifications and the workshop manages to produce what is needed. It's thanks to them."