Behind the Brand | NOMASEI’s Founders On Sustainability, Transparency and Slow Fashion

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Designers Paule Tenaillon and Marine Braquet met while they were both working at Chloé in Paris and bonded over their joint passion of the process of dreaming up the perfect shoe. It wasn’t long before they teamed up and started Nomasei, a shoe brand that takes sustainability, transparency and slow fashion to another level. They share why the environment is at the forefront of their business, how Italy plays a large part in their inspiration and why being out in nature is so important.

As a small business, how are you navigating the current time period? 

This time period has been a huge challenge for us because besides being small, we are also so new and still learning how to run a business and manage our cash flow. But at a same time, being small and built on sustainable values from the onset has given us an authenticity, relevancy and the flexibility to navigate. During the first days of the French lockdown, we asked ourselves how we could go on, what we could tell people and so we decided to keep posting and communicating about what makes us dream, but also showing our new styles and our campaign because they are the result of the hard work of a lot of talented people, from the design to the photoshoot, we felt we couldn’t just make this disappear. We decided to do what felt right and share thoughtfully; we have also been taking this time to engage customers via emails to share our story in more detail, telling them about our projects to build more virtuous ecosystems. At the end, we can say that we took this strange time to engage more with our community. Nomasei is about humanity, sharing, consciousness and solidarity—all values that are very important right now. We are also donating 10% of all proceeds made during this period to the Italian Red Cross.

Between the two of you, you have a wealth of design experience at fashion houses like Chloé, Dior, Louis Vuitton and Givenchy. What did your time working for such esteemed houses teach you about design, craftsmanship and quality? 

Paule: After 20 years of experience as a luxury shoes designer, beside the creative side—which is my foundation and my first passion as a designer—what I prefer is the technical side, and while working for these amazing brands, I could learn to sculpt a heel from the very best craftsmen, by working with very talented head designers, when I began, and later with great creative directors who made my eye stronger and sharper—it made me have really high standards in terms of quality.

Marine: I studied political studies and then fashion at the French Institute of Fashion in Paris (IFM). I began at Chloé in 2014, as a junior product manager, and after three years I was a collection manager, managing a team of five people. At Chloé, I grew up a lot professionally and I think this experience encouraged me to start my own business. At the time, Chloé was very small—we were only two people on the team with two designers—we basically built an entire business unit. We were working very closely with the suppliers, factories starting a collection strategy brief and defining prices and commercial strategies, while working with the artistic director for the collection development. So basically, I learned a lot about the shoes business and how we make shoes.

“Beyond sustainability, we prefer to talk about responsibility—it is about taking responsibility for what we create and bring into this world.”

What is the meaning behind the name, Nomasei?

Nomasei is a name that we made up. Noma is ‘mano’ backwards, which is the Italian word for hands and' ‘sei’ means six in Italian, so it means six hands. The two hands of Marine; the two hands of Paule and the two hands of any other person participating and helping make Nomasei a reality. The starting point of this name was our will to root the brand into this idea of craftsmanship, validating the work of the expert hands making the shoes.The second point of this name was to recognize and put the light on the importance of the collective. Alone you can’t achieve big things. But if you value the work of the others and you can go very far. This is the whole point of Nomasei.

“The starting point of this name was our will to root the brand into this idea of craftsmanship, validating the work of the expert hands making the shoes.The second point of this name was to recognize and put the light on the importance of the collective. Alone you can’t achieve big things. But if you value the work of the others and you can go very far. This is the whole point of Nomasei.”

Where are you currently based? 

Our office is in Paris in Montmartre. Right now, because of the quarantine, Paule stayed in Paris, Marine went back to her native South of France and our intern is in Strasbourg. Usually, Paule spends a week a month in Italy, at the factory, to manage the creative and development process, but in this period, we rely even more on our factory to achieve the product and continue the development process. Thanks to technology and the trust we have in them, we continue to work seamlessly.

Why was creating a brand that was transparent and had such strong environmental mission  from the start so important for you? 

In our daily life, we are very concerned about the world we live in, what we do with it, the impact we have on human beings and on the environment. Our work is a continuity of both our lives, because it is a passion, so it was natural to build Nomasei around being sustainable. We had also been a frustrated to see how the luxury fashion industry was evolving, doing more and more collections without thinking of the impact it might have. And because we are aware that by creating a brand and product, we are contributing to the problem, we wanted every impact we created to be compensated. Beyond sustainability, we prefer to talk about responsibility—it is about taking responsibility for what we create and bring into this world.

SHOP THE COLLECTION

What inspires your design process?

Nomasei’s main inspiration is the Italian lifestyle, as seen through our French eyes, a modern way of living, between cities and nature. Our collections are made to have this mix of city life, with a softness and natural, laid-back attitude. We are not creating collections with seasonal inspiration, but functional styles that we want and need to wear. Our goal is to complete our library of essentials working on style with a strong yet timeless aesthetic. We are two different women, and the shoes we make represent both our styles, desires and needs. Our main colors are inspired by Italy where we spend a lot of time: our “Montopoli red” is the rust-red color of Montopoli’s earth, our “Pompeii white” is an off-white we find on Pompeii antic mural paintings.

The perfect shoe is…..

a shoe that is first, beautiful, but it has to be also wearable, flatter the silhouette, be comfortable and have the highest standard of quality so that you want to keep them forever. Then to be absolutely perfect, it has to be made with special care for the planet and for each human being who participates in its making.

“Our work is a continuity of both our lives, because it is a passion, so it was natural to build Nomasei around being sustainable.”

Nomasei in three words…

Chic, wearable, slow luxury.

The brand is doing so much in the way of sustainability, including using less plastic by creating your own packaging of paper, recycled cardboard, organic cotton and, when necessary, biodegradable plastic. So many brands don’t go that far, so bravo! Why was extending your eco-friendly approach to the packaging so important for you? 

Responsibility has to be 360° to be real. Being eco-friendly is a value, a state of mind and a principle on which we build our brand. So everything from the first component of the shoe to the packaging must respond to these principles. If you have a sustainable shoe but it is sent in a wasteful packaging, what’s the point? You’re not true to yourself or your customers, so it becomes greenwashing. The idea of being sustainable for us is that whenever you have the choice between two options, you always choose the most virtuous and responsible one.

Greenwashing is very common in many industries including fashion. What do you think that the industry needs to do as a whole to move towards a brand that is truly sustainable?

The whole system needs to be built differently. We feel being sustainable is not only about labels and certifications that you can show to exonerate the way you are doing business. We think the industry needs to go back to its roots: to making quality products, stop over-production of collections, educate employees and designers internally about sustainability, and stop considering growth at any cost as the only valuable measure.

Can you share more about the incredible measures your factory partner in Montopoli will be taking to be more sustainable? 

The factory’s new facilities will be ready by summer 2021 (now they are 1 year late due to Covid- 19). Our factory is already quite sustainable because they use products without solvents and practice fair wages, which is particularly important in the area. With the new facilities, production will become even more sustainable which will make work conditions even better.

It includes water regulation with a rainwater recovery system, which maintains the gardens and for the for the fire-fighting system. There is natural lighting to be more energy conscious and increase working conditions. The materials used to build include external frames made from recycled aluminum, which provides an ecologically compatible production cycle with the purification of the water coming from the drawing cycle. The furnishings will be made mainly from compatible and non-polluting materials.

“We think the industry needs to go back to its roots: to making quality products, stop over-production of collections, educate employees and designers internally about sustainability, and stop considering growth at any cost as the only valuable measure.”

You are also aiming to be Carbon Positive, a step above just being Carbon Neutral. Can talk more about that? 

The idea of Nomasei from its genesis has been to have the least impact as possible. When discussing with environmental specialists, we realized that before compensating, the most important detail is to first minimize our carbon footprint as much as possible at each step of the production process. The differences between carbon neutrality and carbon positive is just the process. In both cases, the goal is still neutrality but with carbon positive, you have an action that consists of putting carbon (that you have purchased) into the ground to allow for regenerative agriculture and soil health restoration. Currently we are interested by the actions of The Carbon Underground. We are still intent on becoming carbon neutral, we will just strive to take it that step further to create that carbon positive action.

We are working towards our goals by producing locally—all components come from 40 kilometers around our factory in Tuscany and 90% of our raw materials come from Europe (Italy, Holland, France). We also have a frugal development process, as we only develop models that we truly believe in. Our development philosophy involves creating long lasting and timeless products so we don’t need to start over every season.We also choose suppliers who are working with the same ethics. If we only work with people that value keeping their footprint to a minimum, we end up with a virtuous cycle.

Since are doing your part to protect Mother Earth, I’d love for you to share how being in nature makes you feel? 

Marine: For me nature is essential to be balanced. I’ve been raised both by the sea and in the mountains because where I come from you can have both. When I was a child I was sailing, skiing, hiking, doing sports on the beach and would go in the forest to grab mushrooms, every weekend. It was normal, it was the way we were living. So nature makes feel connected, it relieves my worries and concerns and helps me think and put into perspective what truly matters. And I have to say that being in quarantine in Paris the past couple months has made me reevaluate my connection to nature on a daily basis. It makes me want to live differently and more connected to the earth again, like when I was a child.

Paule: I grew up in the South of France, in the countryside, so I spent my childhood climbing the trees, running in the fields, bathing in rivers and lakes all summer, skiing all winter and most of all, eating real, organic food from our garden or from the area. As an adult working in Paris, I often need to leave and go out in the countryside or to the sea; it makes me feel free and calm. When I am in the middle of nature, in the woods, or on a beach looking far away at the horizon, I always feel endlessly amazed and deeply moved by the pure natural beauty.

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