Since its foundation in 2006, the Amsterdam fashion brand Fabienne Chapot has focused on positivity and interesting stories, which it tells through characterful garments that make every outfit special.
“We appreciate the power of joy, of colour, and let things shine with a sparkle. We don’t follow the crowd – not to attract attention, but because it just feels right,” explains the 15-year-old label.
This approach pays off, especially in times of a pandemic, because what woman wouldn’t like to feel good and confident with a strong, radiant positivity in her looks?
The brand, which was created independently by the charismatic founder Fabienne Chapot, rests on six pillars: the empowerment of women, the passion to design your own prints, inspiration from cult objects of the past, a positive outlook, feminine statement looks and the bold approach of Life.
This means that Fabienne Chapot is about inspiring women to find their own style and not about dictating what to wear. In addition, the proverbial glass is always half full, never half empty and the brand tries to encourage and empower women with strong, colorful creations.
“I have steadily built this brand since 2006 by following my heart, trusting my intuition and daring to dream big. The bold and colorful brand DNA is at the core of our business today,” says founder and CEO Fabienne Chapot.
The unmistakable look of the label is characterized by feminine cuts, recognizable silhouettes, hearts and stars, rich colours, wearable statement pieces and always special details.
In the area of corporate responsibility, Fabienne Chapot focuses on three key areas: transparency in the supply chain, which is expressed through long-standing and stable relationships with suppliers; decent working conditions in the factories and more sustainable materials such as organic cotton and EcoVero viscose and recycled PET in collaboration with Waste2Wear.
Fabienne Chapot offers around 200 options per season, consisting of a main part of ready-to-wear styles, which are supplemented by a beautiful collection of shoes and accessories. This creates complete looks with options in a price range from 60 to 389 euros.
In addition to a strong presence of dresses, blouses and shirts in the collection, the label is currently focusing on expanding its knitwear and denim shares. Together with the hand-designed prints, a stringent collection of expressive styles is created every year.
Each season there is only one buy-in phase, each with five delivery windows. “This is how we use the time during the year to visit partners and deepen relationships. We want to be close and be successful together,” explains Mona Tschirdwahn, Director DACH at Fabienne Chapot.
So far, the Amsterdam label has had an international network. The focus in 2022 is on expanding to Germany, Austria and Switzerland with its own DACH team, so the label recently opened two new showrooms and offices in Düsseldorf and Munich and wants to significantly increase awareness and brand visibility.
“With the right (wholesale) partners, we foresee extremely rapid growth, but not at any price,” explains Mona Tschirdewahn. “2021 was an excellent year for our brand; we were and are profitable, started the year on a good note and continue to demonstrate speed in the operational area, so that we can deliver bestsellers within one to two days. Our wholesale partners really appreciate that.”
There were hardly any bottlenecks during the pandemic or they were quickly compensated. “We know all suppliers and have very good relationships with our suppliers. This ensures quick action and adjustment.”
As far as the expansion into the German-speaking market is concerned, the DACH manager is very positive about it. “Every new partner falls in love with Fabienne Chapot. We have an unmistakable signature and our style is up to date.”
“We serve a very rapidly emerging niche for the purist look that has been established in recent years. We are more colourful, louder and distinctive. That is what the customer, especially in the coming autumn/winter 2022, will be looking for and will find with us,” says Mona Tschirdewahn.
In addition, Fabienne Chapot is pursuing an open-door policy for its showrooms during the current order phase, in compliance with the important Covid precautions. “We have found a beautiful 350 square meter Dutch-style villa in Düsseldorf – our ‘Villa Chapot’ – and in Munich a beautiful showroom in Lodenfreypark – our ‘Loft Chapot’ – where the FW22 collections will be viewed over the next few weeks be able.”
“We are pleased to welcome our partners here. Together with the special atmosphere that our showrooms radiate, we are taking a large piece of the DNA from Amsterdam to our German locations and are happy to surprise everyone.”