In the spirit of sustainability through waste reduction, LVMH has launched a new platform that sells off its deadstock fabrics. Named Nona Source – Nona is one of the Parcae in Roman mythology that spins the thread of life, and Source is a reference to “sourcing” – this new, largely online platform will re-sell fabrics that are no longer used by the many fashion houses under the LVMH umbrella.
Nona Source, which launched on the 26th of April, 2021, is the brainchild of Romain Brabo, formerly a materials buyer at LVMH-owned Givenchy, and Marie Falguera, a textile engineer who was material development and CSR manager at Kenzo, another LVMH house.
The two were joined by Anne Prieur du Perray, digital transformation manager at LVMH, in January 2020 and all three have fully dedicated their time to build the solution since March 2020. The concept is simple, as Falguera explains: “We buy deadstock from the houses and put them back for sale at competitive prices after appraising them.”
The tool gives young designers access to high-quality fabrics at an affordable price. It’s all the more advantageous for young designers because they are usually obliged to pay more when ordering smaller quantities. “We wanted to put at the disposal of the creatives a performing, simple and legible tool,” Falguera explains.
Nona Source is a B2B platform, open to all brands, including independent designers, LVMH houses and competitors. It debuted with 500 different fabrics, 100,000 metres of fabrics and 1,000 metres of leather, all from one house in the LVMH group which remains undisclosed. Nona doesn’t buy or store rolls of fabrics that have a logo. Those are discarded and broken down for intellectual property reasons and are meant for recycling, as part of LVMH’s cooperation with waste specialist Cedre on a waste management platform.
The platform’s product pages provide all sorts of information: origin (not the supplier’s name though), widths, weight and composition. Clients can search by price or quantity, the latter being useful for larger brands that may require substantial quantities, even for capsule collections. Prices are 60-70 per cent lower than the gross price paid originally.
The warehouse is near Tours, in western France. Shipping to clients is limited to Europe. “There is a local stake,” says Brabo. “We want to minimise transporting materials.” Brexit has put a huge question mark over the possibility of shipping to the UK.
Down the road, the platform is to span beyond fabrics and leather. “We want to be a platform of creative resources in the broadest sense,” says Brabo, citing for future inclusion zippers, buttons, stripes and wire bobbins. “We would be delighted if a designer made a collection 100 per cent with dead stocks coming from Nona Source,” he says.
The website with high-resolution close-up shots of fabrics is designed to encourage people to buy online: no samples are available. However, there will be a showroom at incubator La Caserne in Paris. The incubator launches in June, with the showroom to follow by the autumn.
Source: Vogue Business