INTERVIEW BERYL DE LABOUCHERE – TILLI
Hello Beryl, we thank you for welcoming us into your workshop and are delighted to be able to get to know you a little better since the founding of TILLI.
Can you please introduce yourself Beryl?
My name is Beryl, I am 30 years old and the founder of Tilli , a home tailoring service, launched at the beginning of 2017. Today, there are around sixty of us in the team, and around ten internally, including 2 partners and around fifty tailors.
Tilli puts the artisan couturier back in the spotlight and offers home appointments to provide several services: alterations, repairs, upcycling and even the creation of accessories (pouch, toiletry bag, tote bag, shopping bag) with scraps of fabric or clothing that we have lying around.
We are present in Paris, Bordeaux, Marseille, Aix-en-Provence and Lyon.
How did you come up with the idea of launching TILLI?
I wasn't in the fashion or sewing industry at all: I previously worked in the start-up and tech world.
In the summer of 2016, I tested several box ideas. I had to go to 8 weddings, but I didn't have the means or the desire to spend the money on dresses that I would wear once or twice.
I then met a fashion school student who came to my house to help me take back the clothes that were sleeping in my closet.
We transformed dresses, repaired clothes, and really co-created together. I discovered a manual profession that I didn't know at all. I liked the human exchange and the intimate side of the "at home" service. In a world where we are ultra-connected, it feels good to sit down, have a human exchange and reconnect with a manual profession.
I shared this experience around me and a friend asked me if the student would agree to help her with her dressing room as well. This friend was the first client and I naturally started a final start-up test that I called Tilli, like my friend's nickname. !
What are your life inspirations and where do you get them?
I love rummaging around and searching for treasures, asking myself “what could I do with them?” Then I think that we draw inspiration from our experiences, our travels, the people around us, the times, the present and the feelings we feel.
Where does your passion for “Do It Yourself” come from and how did you become interested in upcycling in particular?
I have always admired people who work with their hands. I find it beautiful and captivating to watch.
I would love to do some DIY, but I have to admit I'm not very good at it.
I have ideas and desires, but I am rarely satisfied with my results.
It relaxes me, but I admit that I prefer to turn to professional craftsmen to fulfill my wishes. Upcycling, I have dreamed of it for a long time.
Whether it's when I go to flea markets and plan to restore a piece of furniture or when I rummage through my grandmother's dressing room.
My grandmother was a Balmain muse in the 50s and kept treasures from that era that I dreamed of being able to modernize, repair and resize. Since Tilli, I have been having a blast and sharing these transformations in our Lookbook and on social networks.
There are beautiful dresses from the 50s of course, but also clothes from dad that I recovered or basics in my closet that I had grown tired of.
I like the story surrounding the second life of a product.
What advice do you have to encourage those who dare to embark on a new project?
Where to start? Where and how to find inspiration?
You have to be in a project dynamic so that the path from idea to realization begins.
Afterwards I looked for a lot of ideas, but Tilli came to me quite naturally and without any effort in searching for a concept or business model because it was a problem that affected me.
Then my advice would be to test and learn by doing. Make orders in a DIY way and then if there are problems, we improve and as soon as there is traction we evolve and automate little by little. We were taught at school to make business plans, but without knowing how supply or demand reacts and without having a service that works. We start by doing small, then we iterate and evolve. The field and the interaction with customers are much more motivating than being alone in front of your computer and an Excel.
What are the upcoming projects for TILLI?
We are currently releasing a collaboration with Swarovski for the holiday season. They have end-of-series stones to "upcycle". We are therefore offering any customer who orders with the code SPARKLING a Tillist, stones or pearls of their choice to embellish a garment or a gift for their loved ones. We have also "upcycled" a LUZ swimsuit that I wear as a bodysuit with white Swarovski pearls.
You have been following LUZ Collections since the beginning, what do you like about the brand's commitment?
I sincerely believe that you are the first Green brand where I bought in full awareness. I liked the organic cotton and you were among the first to be in this process. I joined right away.
Last little question, your favorite Luz jersey?
I have a lot so it's hard to choose. I would say that the iconic green and orange Caesar that I bought at Bon Marché in your first Pop-up made a lasting impression!
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