Interview: Jean-Baptiste Richard and Marie Welt, co-founders Maison Labiche

Collaboration and customisation. They have been two watchwords that brands are told to heed if they want to gain stand-out in today's saturated fashion market. But French contemporary brand Maison Labiche, best known for its embroidered t-shirts and sweats, has been doing both from its very conception.

This summer it has teamed up with another high profile French brand, Grey Goose vodka, to create a capsule collection, a bespoke bottle and a "Paris to Pampelonne" cocktail, which have been designed to evoke images of the French Riviera. A pop-up has been installed in the basement of Harvey Nichols' Knightsbridge stores where the cocktails can be sampled and t-shirts personalised.

The cocktails are also available in Harvey Nichols' bars while the vodka bottles are sold in Harvey Nichols' shops and online (on both Harvey Nichols' and Maison Labiche's websites), along with a bright beach towel bearing the legend "Live like summer never ends". T-shirts with the same slogan, along with a "Live Victoriously" style, can be purchase in-store.

Somewhat predictably when TheIndustry.fashion meets the brand's founders Jean-Baptiste Richard and Marie Welt, it's pouring with rain and it feels like summer never started, but they laugh it off. "It's OK, it always rains in London," says Welt. "You will feel like you are in the South of France when you have a cocktail," Richard adds (he's right, it's very good).

The Maison Labiche X Grey Goose collection

Apart from the weather, though, London – or rather the UK in general – has been good to Maison Labiche and is its second most important market outside of France. The brand was founded in Paris nine years ago when the pair decided to launch a business based on perhaps the world's most ubiquitous item of clothing.

"We wanted to find popular clothing – the white t-shirt for men, women and kids and add a couture technique to it. We liked the idea of embroidery on your heart, that you want to share what you really love," explains Richard.

Some of the more popular iterations include band and song names such as Blondie and Crazy in Love or simply Amour, but it's the ability for the wearer to add their own message that has been at the heart of its success, and indeed was the very start of its success.

In order to get the brand off the ground the pair embroidered four or give t-shirts with the name of the legendary Parisian boutique Colette (which closed at the end of 2017 and is now a Saint Laurent store), which snapped them up and sold them out immediately.

That was the start of its first major collaboration and it was a savvy one, since every fashion buyer worthy of the job title would make regular visits to Colette to scout for brands, so it gained international recognition straight away. "Before we got the email from Colette, we were nobody. It was the beginning of our path," says Richard.

In the UK the brand is not only stocked in Harvey Nichols but also Liberty and a number of premium independents (in Paris there are two standalone boutiques with a third in the pipeline). It can also be bought online where specially designed software allows customers to create their own designs online and preview the results in real time before buying. Embroidery is carried out within 24 hours of the order and delivery takes 2-3 days.

The most popular choice is for people to simply add their name but often they use the embroidery as an opportunity to make a big life announcement. "People say 'I'm pregnant' or "Will you marry me?" laughs Welt. "One guy even added his phone number," adds Richard.

It's perhaps not a surprise then that the brand is often copied. Even fashion giant Zara has just added a new Edited line to enable customers to personalise a range of items from t-shirts to jeans, but the pair seem unconcerned by it. Others may introduce personalisation for a while or create similar-style designs, but they believe people always recognise the original.

"Our brand is built on [personalised embroidery]," says Richard. "People know  the original, they know the brand. When people think of t-shirts, they think of Maison Labiche."

Of course to all it a t-shirt brand is not to do it justice. While that is at the heart of the offer, it has a full ready-to-wear line from denim to knitwear and underwear, while bespoke personalisation can also be added to sweats, shirts, onesies for babies and beanie hats.

Personalisation in action in Harvey Nichols

The pop-up in Harvey Nichols allows customers to see the process in action while perched at the bar with the Grey Goose cocktail. For Maison Labiche the juxtaposition is pleasing since both brands are proudly French and based on craftsmanship. 

In fact craftsmanship is another watchword to add to the list, along with collaboration and customisation. While it seems Maison Labiche has the formula for success down, it is not complacent.

"You have to keep questioning yourself to move forward," says Richard. "There is a still a lot of pace [in the market] and always more competition. You have to have something really unique."

Pictured top: Jean-Baptiste Richard, Francois Thibault who designed the recipe for Grey Goose, and Marie Welt