PARIS — It’s been a decade since Belgian designer Mats Rombaut launched his eponymous vegan shoe brand. He’s since expanded to bags, aluminum and volcanic rock jewelry and 3D-printed eco-resin sunglasses as he expands the accessories brand.
He is marking the anniversary by presenting an apparel collection during Paris Men’s Fashion Week in a show that will be part runway and part performance. There is a uniform feel to the clothes, based on martial arts clothes, that will highlight the core products of the accessories brand.
“You will have the typical codes of the brand — especially this collection, there’s a little bit of history and the story throughout the 10 years — but a lot of novelty. It’s a really a celebration,” Rombaut told WWD.
New heels and bags will make their debut. After toying with bags a few seasons ago, Rombaut officially launched the category last year, which unleashed a new wave of creativity for the designer.
You May Also Like
“This season I had more fun making the bags, and we’re going to see that in the result,” he said.
The brand is carried by some 55 stockists worldwide, but the majority only offer the footwear. He hopes having the bags on the runway will spark interest for buyers. “Having the show and communicating around them as well I hope will help convince our stores to take a chance on them,” he said.
To make that play, Rombaut has brought in British stylist Betsy Johnson to shape the show, while hair will be from avant-garde artist Charlie Le Mindu.
“We are inherently not a clothing brand. We are an accessories brand,” he said. “We’re looking at different characters and people in society, and then translating that to our cast and highlighting their unique features, so it’s more about the styling.”
The looks will be worn by mostly nonprofessional models, cast for their uniqueness. A choreographed routine will be incorporated into the show, with dancers also sporting the clothes and bags.
The 30-look collection takes inspiration from traditional Shaolin shapes and cues from kung fu, which has religious and meditative roots as well as a focus on perfecting the physical body. The duality appealed to Rombaut, who studied kung fu as a child, later moving on to music, art and dance.
The contrast is of philosophy and physicality at the collection’s core as an exploration of what it means to be human in the time of AI. The designer composed the music with Barcelona-based DJ Cardopusher.
“It’s going to be a very powerful show, and we put a lot of emotion in it,” he said. “For me personally, I find it more interesting to look at a dance performance than a runway show.”
Saturday’s show will be held on the top floor of L’Institut du Monde Arabe with its sweeping panorama of Paris. Rombaut chose the location not only for its view and the futuristic architecture of the building, but because he wants the collection to embrace all cultures.
“It’s very much based on unity and peace, and the brand is not linked to religion or any political ideology. We just accept everything as how it is,” he said, however noting that he is keenly aware of the myriad global conflicts that are in marked contrast to the fashion week bubble.
The collection has a Taoist philosophy at its core, Rombaut said. “But we wanted to say that religion really for us is not a big topic. It’s about cultivating yourself through wisdom and knowledge. You can better yourself as a human being and try to be the best version of yourself and be kind to each other. In that way, you can create peace around you.”
The show comes two years after the self-funded brand finally became profitable, Rombaut said. Now with new product categories, he is looking to grow. He is targeting revenue growth of about 10 percent over the next year, while still keeping the label small enough to oversee all aspects of both the business and creative sides.
To that end, he has no intention of getting on the fashion week calendar hamster wheel. He is considering doing one collection a year, but even that may be too much.
“It’s more like whenever we have something to say,” he said. It’s in part to maintain a work-life balance, and in part to keep with the brand’s inherent vegan and environmental ethos. He’s wary of the oversaturation of the market and overproduction.
“It’s been very tricky, to be honest, in these last 10 years to exist in a fashion system and to play by certain rules, while trying to do things our own way with production and materials. There are all these choices that you have to make in terms of product, which, at the end of the day, people don’t really care so much about but we care about, and then our margins are smaller,” he said.
“It’s all about balance between the artistic versus the commercial. I know that’s a challenge for everybody, but I’d rather stay on the artistic side of things than to make it into a big commercial brand.”
There are more vegan shoes in the market, but Rombaut wants to communicate that it is not just about slapping the word on a product but that his is an “inherently vegan” brand with animal ethics at its core.
The market has shifted over the past decade, from “diehard vegan people” who were just happy about any brand that matched their ethics to a wider swathe of consumers being open to vegan products but basing their purchasing decisions on design.
Following the fashion week show, Rombaut will make a marketing push to revamp the brand’s communication and image with a new website and new creative avenues of content.
The approach will focus on creating more of a dialogue with the brand’s followers and community that conveys its impact and vegan credentials through emotion.
“People are more educated on materials and where things come from, and have started to question things more, especially younger consumers,” he added.
