RÉUNI, Redefining Fashion: Interview with Adrien Garcia

Photos: RÉUNI

It takes time for good things to happen, it takes time to create something beautiful and lasting, it takes time to create beautiful and well made clothes, and everything requires care, patience and passion to make it last. It’s part of the art of living. Reflecting a passion for fashion yet a refusal to follow the rules others have set out, going back to basics and redefining the notion of making fashion, RÉUNI is breaking new grounds and renewing our need for things to feel real and authentic, for our clothes to feel our own, for ourselves to trust our instincts and find the right balance, to feel free and inspired.

More is not better, more is just more. So RÉUNI chooses to create together with the customer what they need, what they want, in limited editions. It chooses to battle the push of fast fashion and pursues a slow pace of creating and living. It chooses to put common sense and human values back into fashion. Clothes and jewellery in pure forms and perfect proportions, with organic and clean lines, meant to liberate and celebrate femininity, inspired by the beauty of life itself. A wardrobe, just like a space, should sit there quietly until the right thing comes along. To feel comfortable enough in your clothes is to be patient. To be patient is to have the freedom to afford yourself time to enjoy life.

In our interview, Adrien Garcia, the co-founder of RÉUNI, and I are talking about the brand’s design philosophy, why the modern customer is ready for a new way of making fashion and why we are our own limits.

Your approach to building a collection is unique: you work on pre-orders and limited editions available only for a few days for each piece you create gradually. Not only that, but you invite the customer to co-create each new item, asking people to share their desires as starting point of the production process. You create only what is useful; you design with purpose. Is Réuni the new model of making fashion?

We hope we are creating a new model of making fashion, and we hope that this way of doing fashion will become mainstream soon. This is actually a lot of common sense. What we are doing is asking our community what is wrong with their garment and what they want to make sure they will love and want what we design. We add a lot of creativity and know-how to make fantastic and robust products made in Europe, made to last, products that do not damage the planet and humans. This idea of réédition and continuous improvement of best sellers is actually not that far from the traditional model in the fashion industry right now. The biggest change is the pre-order model. People are buying a product that is not produced yet. This model works if the value for money ratio is outstanding, and this is the case at RÉUNI. And again this is not new, Hermès does pre-order, too, with its famous bags.

Yes, but you are doing it differently. In the case of the reissued pieces, you are improving on previous designs, you don’t launch hundreds of “new” products every year as it largely happens in the fashion industry, you are taking the noise out of the consumer shopping experience and instead you are making them part of the conversation, you are making slow fashion. And in contrast to Hermès, the price value proposition is different, you are offering more affordable luxury. And I think that’s why the people are responsive to RÉUNI.

Indeed you are selling our concept much better than me, we are definitely making slow fashion improving each pieces year after year, we want to create only iconic products so when peope want to buy a Cardigan or a Big Winter Sweater they think of us like they think of Lacoste for a polo or Max Mara for a coat. Indeed we are making true luxury at the right price because we are applying a decent margin to our product to grow sustainably, but also we do not have the cost of flagship boutique, no over marketing, no huge headquarter. Lastly, I think people are sensitive to what we do because of our values and imagery that promote a new French way of living, a slow way of living. At the end, I like to say that RÉUNI is mindfulness luxury.

With each piece launched, it seems you have set out to create an elaborated version of the classic wardrobe. Will Réuni be complete with the creation and its own reinterpretation of the classic wardrobe?

We aspire to present a whole classic wardrobe, but not only. We see ourselves as a lifestyle brand like Hermès or Ralph Lauren proposing different territories such as home, perfume, and hospitality. For us, RÉUNI is a cross-generational project. This is not a short-term project. Also keep in mind that we are coming from the biggest fashion house, creativity is unlimited, proposition of design is unlimited.

”The RÉUNI woman is first and foremost natural, simple,
confident, kind. She is not a girl, she is a woman and she
has a masculine side, too, in the way she is dressing.
She knows who she is and is very true to herself.”

Do you think your creativity is better served with starting your own company? What made you leave the big luxury fashion business?

Of course it is better served while starting your own company, and that is the biggest reason why we started our own company. When you are a designer in a fashion house your job is to be at the disposal of the creative vision of the Creative Director. We decided to implement our vision, for more freedom and rejection of the conventional fashion model that pushes everybody in the industry to overproduce garments and accessories that nobody needs.

Is the 21st century customer prepared to wait for months for a product?

Oh yes, more than ever. We are entering a new era where people want to consume differently fantastic products, full of know-how and history, products that are charged with feeling and which they will be able to transmit to their children.

I agree, people want something distinctive, an experience or a compelling story, and that’s where ethical brands can make a difference. Do you find it an exciting time for any fashion brand or fashion creative who is ready to embrace the change?

At RÉUNI, we are in an optimistic mindset and we believe we are living at the best time ever, full of challenges, of course, but full of opportunities to reinvent ourselves and the industry we are in. Having said that, starting a brand is a difficult exercise that needs a lot of commitment, passion and stamina.

Your first set of jewellery was inspired by the pure forms and perfect proportions of the sculptures of Constantin Brâncusi and Isamu Noguchi. Does art play an important role in your creations?

Alice, our Creative Director, and I met during our fashion school (le Studio Berçot in Paris). We came to fashion because of our love for art, architecture and design. Art has always been the starting point of every piece we made and this will always be the case at RÉUNI.

How difficult is to make a fashion business partnership work? What is the secret to a good partnership? Is it something that came naturally or was it something you had to work towards?

We are actually 3 co-founders at RÉUNI, Alice, my wife, Julien, my brother, and I. I would say the key is trust, respect and communication. I think it is working so far because we are really clear in what we want to achieve, what everyone’s role is and what each one of us wants to realise in his/her lifetime. We are very attentive that each one of us is aligned with her/his own aspirations, that what she/he is doing today puts her/him on the right track to accomplish her/his vision. This is not something natural, but our willingness to find a balance and a good way of working all together is part of our essence to the three of us.

Your jewellery pieces are so simple, yet they stand out, as the rest of your collection. And I believe pure simplicity, in art and in fashion, is the hardest to achieve. How do you do that?

First, thank you, it is a huge compliment for us. And indeed, yes, it is sometimes quite difficult to find the right balance. We believe it is a mix of several things that “makes the magic happen”. First, we know from all the answers to our surveys what is timeless in the mind of our customer. Then, there is a lot of instinct. As we are looking at the first sketches or inspiration pictures or vintage pieces we find, we kind of know if this is what we dream about. It is really coming from the heart. Even ourselves, we dream about having timeless, simple and beautiful pieces around us, in our closet or at home, so we try to do our best to create them.

What are your go-to places for the inspiring images and pieces you mention? Because your products are so classically streamlined that they seem to come from a deep visual knowledge, the kind that is clearly not pulled from the internet, but from books and magazines and films.

Thank you so much for you kindness. We are lucky to have found a way of working that gives us the tremendous advantage to compare to any other brands, to take the time to develop each product. It gives us the luxury to push every garment quite far. Throughout our previous experiences at school and in fashion houses we learnt to look for inspiration everywhere: vintage, museums, books, magazines, the street, friends’ wardrobes, absolutely everywhere. Each time we come across something that inspires us we classify them in boxes by thematic and future projet. When we decide to go for a specific archetype, we open the box and start to work on it.

Your entire co-founding team’s commitment to your work and your lifestyle is something to be deeply appreciated, and it effortlessly comes through in your brand. In this time and age, what do you wish people appreciated more?

If we talk about fashion, I would say less is more. Quantity doesn’t mean more happiness. In terms of human values, I am a firm defender of kindness and generosity.

RÉUNI is a women’s collection, a collection that looks so liberating and free from what’s going on in the fashion world. Who is the REUNI woman? Who are the women who inspire you?

The RÉUNI woman is first and foremost natural, simple, confident, kind. She is the kind of person who loves receiving, cooking for her friends and family, spending time with the people she loves. She is very active and curious, she loves craftsmanship, nature and art. She is not a girl, she is a woman and she has a masculine side, too, in the way she is dressing. She knows who she is and is very true to herself. We have some examples, some ideas of what she could look like in terms of style or outside perception. She is a woman like Caroline Besset Kennedy, Sofia Coppola, Gaïa Repossi, Jean Shrimpton, Lee Radziwill, Diana Vreeland, Linda McCartney.

”Never forget that we are our own limits.
Whether you think you can or can’t, in both cases you are right.”

You are an inspiration for design with purpose. But is there someone in particular who has inspired you down your creative path? On your podcast, for example, you have met many creatives, entrepreneurs, incredibly talented and inspirational people. Is there anyone in particular who has marked you?

On my podcast, if I had to choose one, it would be Ramdane Touhami, co-founder of L’Officine Universelle Buly, because he is a genius in his ability to push things to the paroxysm. The second one would be Marie-France Cohen for her entire career, she is the co-founder of Bonpoint and Merci. For people I haven’t interviewed yet, I would say Ralph Lauren for his ability to create an entire coherent world. I am also very inspired by Jonny Johansson from Acne Studios. All those people are both entrepreneurs and creative minds and this is actually what I love about RÉUNI: this is both a creative and entrepreneurial adventure.

And what would be your own piece of advice for someone who is thinking of forging his/her own creative path?

While interviewing people on my podcast, I realised that there is no one path to success but there are a few common threads: very hard work, stamina, determination, no compromise and huge ambition. Ambition is not a bad word but a tool to help you accomplish your dreams. Never forget that we are our own limits. Whether you think you can or can’t, in both cases you are right.

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