{ "title": "Sidney Toledano on artisanal know-how" , "date": 1666666666 , "content": [ [ "p", "Whilst in Paris last week and thanks to IFM alumni, we had the pleasure and honour to meet and talk with Sidney Toledano, the former CEO of Dior and now head of LVMH Fashion Group." ] , [ "hr" ] , [ "p", "M. Toledano covered multiple topics including the importance of putting engineers in charge of business (he is an almunus from famous École Centrale), his recipe for success (combination of talent/intelligence, work, networking and… luck) and the absolute necessity for a luxury brand to maintain the highest levels of product and service quality. Notably, he was adamant that a strict control of downstream distribution and retail is required , and illustrated his position with multiple examples where poor control of distributors and in-store merchandising ruined a product's commercial success." ] , [ "hr" ] , [ "p", "This very point led me to ask him about upstream consolidation and the recent tendency for luxury brands to acquire their suppliers, some of them with unique abilities. The advantages of such integration are obvious: increased margins, improved quality controls, and ensuring the availability of scarce high-quality raw materials and artisanal savoir-faire. The flipside of the coin is however a de facto monopoly position built by large luxury brands. So I asked what he thought of this trend, quoting the 19M initiative from Chanel which funneled a significant part of Paris' traditional embroidery and pleating savoir-faire. We at atelierYVF recently had to deal (again) with two of these companies and the quality of service has obviously been quite deteriorating."] , [ "p", "To my question, I got a very politically correct answer regarding how the objective was to save heritage companies on the brink of bankruptcy and how undoubtedly Chanel would keep the service open to everyone in the industry, just like the LVMH group keeps the services of similar niche companies open to others (they have recently acquired tanneries specialised in exotic leather). However he couldn't refrain from calling himself one of the predators of such capabilities. That was probably a trait of humour but I found the term quite revealing." ] , [ "hr" ] , [ "p", "I left the meeting with mixed feelings. Yes these small companies are preserved. Yes the service is still open to everyone… But in which conditions and for how long? We are clearly walking on a fine line and reinforced in our belief that reducing our dependency on these services and training our own employees to French couture and embroidery techniques, like we have been doing at atelierYVF for many years now, is a necessary investment that can only make the difference in the long run." ] , [ "h", "In another part of our conversation, M. Toledano shared his faith that any entrepreneur could make a difference on the market and become a major player, provided that they would bring "a little bit of brilliance"." ] ] , "links": [ ] }