Interview with Renaud Cambuzat, Creative Director at Chantelle
A long-standing exhibitor at WSN, Chantelle continues its journey to perpetual reinvention. Renaud Cambuzat tells us all about this strong and ever-growing bond, and about the advantage of being showcased within the Exposed space.
Bold materials, pop colors, an ever more precise and creative approach to the market : we caught up with Chantelle at the Exposed space, where big lingerie names and young designers meet. Renaud Cambuzat told us about his plans for this new edition, his bets for the future and his vision of a fast-changing market.
Renaud Cambuzat
Chantelle is a historic WSN brand. What has kept you coming back for so many years ?
It has been an ongoing pleasure to support WSN over the years. We’re always looking to participate in new, different ways. Being on Exposed in a good example of that, and an ideal space for us to introduce our latest news. Of course, being here is also an opportunity to visit our Interfilière Paris suppliers and talk about current issues, explore other possibilities and discover new materials. We always get some nice surprises there, especially regarding new, eco-responsible fabrics that are very important to us.
Tell us about the new products you are introducing.
We’re launching a new family : the Chantelle Pulpies. It’s a range of panties with colors and packaging inspired by make-up. We’re also expanding into swimwear with Pulp, a one-size swimming range made of a very stretch fabric, that we introduced last year at Curve Paris. Both are a step aside from the world of traditional lingerie and build interesting bridges with ready-to-wear.
It makes even more sense for you to present these products at Who’s Next, on the Exposed space.
Absolutely. We’ve done it before and it’s a pleasure to be back among the young creation. Especially as these new products may interest the Who’s Next ready-to-wear buyers who are more in touch with our direction, beyond those who go for traditional lingerie.
How are you adapting to the various market changes ?
It’s already been six years that we began repositioning our portfolio, with the goal of modernizing our brand. We’ve rebranded the Chantelle name into several lines : luxury with Chantelle X, innovation with Chantelle Lab… We want to shake things up a bit and modernize the lingerie industry, which was still pretty sterile up to recently but has moved on quite a lot these past years.
As an established brand on the market, what do you think about this evolution ?
The specificity of lingerie is its functionality. Once a customer has found the cut and size that suit her, she won’t necessarily want to change, so lines have a longer lifespan than in fashion. I see two approaches : the one chosen by traditional brands, which renew themselves but remain very rooted in their achievements, and those who try to find a balance with more innovative proposals. This is what we do. We’re trying to find that balance in order to preserve our historic customer base while recruiting new consumers, always making sure that the brand message remains clear. The key is to find the right mix of traditional and disruptive.
