Les Vacances d’Irina and Helen Kaminski

0:11Hello and welcome to The Entrepreneurs on Monocle Radio, the show all about inspiring people, innovative companies and fresh ideas in global business. On today's programme, we're shifting into summer mode with a look at warm weather style and the brands that bring a bit of sunshine to all they do. First, we head to Bucharest to meet a designer whose fashion label draws on the easy elegance of the Mediterranean spirit. I'm not a big fan of trends. I want to create a timeless product. So I kind of try to play with this aesthetic and to not change much. Then it's off to Australia to hear about a heritage accessories brand known for its timeless hats.

0:54We look at these naturally sourced fibres and materials in both the products and in the store environment to really create an area of warmth. This is The Entrepreneurs with me, Tom Edwards.

1:14You're listening to The Entrepreneurs. Irina Morisciano is the founder and designer behind Les Vacances d 'Irina, a Bucharest-based fashion label she launched in 2017. The brand was born from a love of Mediterranean summers and a desire to create timeless pieces that feel effortless yet elevated. Each design is handcrafted in Romania using traditional techniques with a focus on quality, simplicity and longevity. The label blends voluminous silhouettes with tailored details like crisp collars and structured cuffs, creating a wardrobe that's as refined as it is romantic. Our own Laura Kramer discovered the brand's pop-up shop on a recent reporting trip to Bucharest and met with Irina at her atelier.

1:59Irina began by telling Laura how it all started with a wicker basket found in a French flea market. At the beginning, I started to sell vintage straw bags. I was looking for them in the fairs, vintage shops. And then I was reselling them on my Instagram account. I saw that people loved the straw bags. I was posting a straw bag and people instantly were like, we want more and we want more. And so I thought maybe I should make a straw bag, kind of make it and then resell it as my own design. This is how we started. I started to search for artisans that were doing kind of straw bags, heavier or lighter.

2:37We still have some of them, but we started with one rectangular bag. And after that, a sailor collar came. And then item by item, a dress, another dress. It was very slow and very natural, the process of growing. It sounds very organic. What's your background then? I never studied fashion, but I used to, I like fashion. I like this very relaxed Mediterranean style. I like to travel to the seaside, the Mediterranean, all that comes with. I'm passionate about what I do. The background is I was born in the north part of Romania, in Felticene, Soceva. I didn't have a background in fashion or in anything I do, but I just liked this field.

3:24It's interesting, so many of the entrepreneurs who we speak to, they end up just kind of following their passion in something. And next thing you know, it's a business and you never intended on it being that. Yes, yes, yes. It was very kind of natural coming. And it was also that I kind of, starting with the vintage straw bags and other stuff, it kind of gave me courage to do something on my own. And I also worked with a designer, a Romanian designer, for five years. But I think it was a totally different experience than when I started to do my own brand. And yeah, it was a lot of flashbacks coming now.

4:02So it was very, very natural and organic. So in those early days, at what point did you think, oh, this is something we could really expand on? Because were you just mostly online at that point with still the Instagram, I guess, digital store? Yeah, I remember we had 300 followers on Instagram and I was doing very cute posts, posting a little shell on a straw bag. Do you remember the posts? It was very, very cute, very innocent. And then one day we received a message from the main buyer of International Gallery Beams in Tokyo. It's one of the best shop you want to be in. And they wrote to us, hello, we are interested in your brand.

4:45Are you going to be in Paris for Fashion Week? We're like, what is Paris Fashion Week? What? What? We did some strawberries. And it's true that at that point we also had two dresses, two designs. So we said, yes, of course. And we went to Paris together. We rented a hotel room in a totally different area than Paris Fashion Week happens, but we didn't know anything. But the guys, they came together to the buyers and they saw the items. And one month later, they placed an order. I thought I was dreaming, honestly. I couldn't believe it was happening. So this was the thing that made me go forward.

5:27Like I had the courage. Okay, if they like what I do, I think I should kind of trust what I do. And I started to grow to create more products. And then Matches Fashion, they posted another order. So then we started to grow, but very... Because we never grew in a direction of very commercial or... It was very niched. and the Japanese, they helped us a lot to grow in the right direction. They were very important in our growing, International Gallery Beams, because they set the way and they also kind of advised us, look, you should go this way, not that way. We became friends with the buyer there, Erika, and she was super involved and she still is.

6:11We have a special relationship with them. Even if we collaborate with showrooms, we work with them separately because they are really special to us. So they gave me courage to create a real business out of it. Oh, that's incredible. Yeah, I guess sometimes you need that validation from industry experts when you're just kind of starting out because you might not know what you have to. You might be sitting on some gold really. Yes, yes, yes. And I really didn't know what I'm doing because first time when they did the order, I remember they ordered 30 dresses, I think, and I didn't even know where should I take the linen from because I never thought that I need continuity on the fabric.

6:51I didn't know anything. We needed line sheets, prices. Everything was a mess. But then every day with them, I kind of learned. It was like a school, honestly. It was like a school to do this with them because I learned every step by doing and also by making mistakes. Of course, it's so important. But also, I guess in your shoes at that time, you must have been thinking, how am I going to make this order? It was exactly like that. And you see me running crazy, looking for linen. Do you remember? A special linen. And then I remember, because I didn't know the quality control, everything. There are so many steps to follow.

7:31We did make mistakes, but they were so patient with us. They really wanted us to... They knew that I'm so at the beginning. And they said, okay, we want to give you, even if you made these mistakes, we want to give you a second chance. and they really helped me to kind of perfection what I'm doing. And today I can say that, yeah, we are doing kind of, because we sell in a lot of other Japanese stores, and our quality and the way we do our thing, it's really, I'm kind of proud of it. Yeah, so tell me about where can people find you out? Where are you now? Right now we are in your Bucharest showroom.

8:13There was the pop-up that I just saw, 10-minute walk away. We are in Bucharest. Our base is here. We have the main store, which is on Mariano City 21. Here we also have the atelier and everything is happening here. And then we have a small pop-up in Nicolai Golescu 20. That is a kind of a shop that we wanted to make that small shop because a lot of people go that way, like tourists, and we wanted people to know the brand. besides that we also are in several shops all over the world in japan as i told you we are in italy in sardinia in greece islands many islands antiparos hydra tinos island yeah so we are in very cool small boutique shops and now we are also going to make a new step with the brand like a big step by entering in this new showroom rainbow wave which is a big showroom so we're going to be with them starting this season.

9:13Oh my goodness, congratulations. Thank you. So what were some of the biggest challenges, I guess, aside from the fact that you maybe didn't know this business, once you kind of got into it, what do you see as a challenge that you've kind of had found a way to overcome or? Yeah, the biggest challenge I think is people. It's true, I'm lucky to have some people around me that are really, really good, but still, we are still a young brand. So finding people, So ideally, I would have someone that I go, like I work with since I started, I mean, to have a long lasting collaboration. But unfortunately, it's very hard to find people that really, that are really involved in this.

9:53It's a challenge for me. And now we kind of, we are growing, so we need more peoples. And it's a challenge. But I think what happened in the last year and made me kind of, gave me hope. We have an intern from France, from Bretagne, Jade, and she came at the beginning of the year, like two months ago, in February, March. And she made me, when I saw the way she's working, what she's doing, I really thought that, okay, there are people that can do things like that. So that gave me hope and I started to know better what to look for. It's true that in Romania we don't have this culture, like fashion, it's not that, I mean, it's difficult but I think yeah it's also a good lesson for me to learn to learn what to expect from people to learn what to ask from them so it's the people are the challenge right now and it's also that if you work for a brand like us we're not a big corporation we are a small brand we kind of we are kind of a startup and you you will do you will kind of keep the shop clean and organized, but you will also take, deliver the orders, but you will also send an email to a client.

11:08So you will kind of do everything that takes, because if we grow, you grow and everything is going to be fine. But it's a challenge, but I'm looking very positive on it and I have hope. Well, let's get into the product then and talk about, are you the main designer still? Are you working? Yes, I'm the main designer, but I also, every item I make, I kind of, I like to ask my because he has a good taste. Also, Matei's mother, she's a very sophisticated woman. And I kind of ask her every time I create an item, what do you think of that? Because she was an artist, so she's kind of talented. But I'm the main creator.

11:48And where are the products made then? Where is everything manufactured? Yeah, everything is manufactured in Romania. We have our own atelier with three ladies now. We are looking for hiring another one. we kind of split the orders because we have orders wholesale orders coming from the from other shops and retail orders coming from store and from shop from our platform online platform so we create an atelier the retail orders most of them but also wholesale small quantities like when we have five blouses five dresses we can do that because we are a small atelier and we work with three more other ateliers in Bucharest, but also near Bucharest.

12:32Very, very good atelier that they work for big brands like Montclair, Gillesander, a lot of good names, so they know what they do. Yeah, so in Romania, everything, but in our atelier and other ateliers around. The new collection is, everything is done here in our atelier, the prototypes and everything. And how many pieces does the new collection? usually it's around 20 22 23 25 we have our main collection that is permanent collection that we create every like like we don't change maybe we change the fabric the color but we have it since the beginning and then this is our core and then we have the new collection which after the season we decide to keep some of them and some of them just not make them anymore so it's this kind of process.

13:21I don't want, I want to kind of keep this aesthetic. I don't want to, to, I'm not a big fan of trends. I want to create a timeless product. So it's important that people understand that, yeah, we have our mane that we can make it in different. For example, I'm going to show you, we have a dress made in cotton, linen, silk, different colors. So I, short, long. So I kind of try to play with this aesthetic and to not change much. I love that and I guess I wonder with being a young brand and there you know collaborations are so common now of course are you thinking about collaborations or is it too soon you go just want to find the voice and find that the footing before you kind of jump into and expand into that?

14:09Yeah I would love that. I made a collaboration with the International Gallery Beams we have a kind of an artisanal line like it is called alb and we did some kind of products that are made like a hand knitted sweater that is done by this lady this kind of item they're a little bit more worked but i would love a collaboration with maybe a brand that aligns with my values and that would be great or with a store or yeah i'm open to that i also do kind of special collaborations with different shops for example we work with a shop in London, a Basque. It's a new store. And we did for them only silk.

14:49So it's also this kind of specific, but I would love to associate myself with a bigger name or yeah, that would be a dream. And do you think eventually you'd like to see your own store? Yes. Ideally, I would have my own store in Tokyo. I see a store there. I see it. I see it. I already see it but I think we have to to grow a little bit more so yeah and also if if wholesale market with this new showroom is going to work well yeah we have to kind of process that and to learn a lot so it will take us I think maybe a few more years to be ready to have our own show and what's your process like when you do go to sit down and design are you one of those people who kind of sleeps with a paper next to the bed just in case you get some burst of inspiration.

15:41I like this question because it's a mess. When our intern came, she said, I want to see how you create your collection. I want to see you in atelier. And she came and everything I did was excels, managing the team, cleaning the space, organizing. And the collection was just a small part because when the brand is not too big, I have to be on everything and to kind of supervise everything. So the creative process, I hope it will be much fluid in the next years because this year with growing, it was very painful, honestly. I would love to kind of go deep into that to also learn how to, I mean, to have my own time to do that.

16:24But I cannot say that it's a dreamy process when I go and I have time to do that fully. So I'm not there yet, but it's going okay. I have these ladies in atelier that they understand what I'm saying or so it's good that I communicate very well with them So I kind of managed to have a new collection every season, which is a good thing I would say also enjoy this moment too because I think a lot of the entrepreneurs We speak to who eventually carve out that space to be more creative They have to also learn to let go of their baby and the operational side of things and that's also a challenge Yeah, a lot of people.

16:59Yeah, and it's also I think you have to be ready to leave those things with others. And it's frustrating because you have to kind of check everything, every order confirmation, everything. So it's kind of challenging, but it's part of the process. And I kind of like it because it's my business. So I'm super involved. I like to do everything I do. Exactly. Where do you kind of see yourself in five years? What would be the dream? What's next? Yeah, I would like to be on many Mediterranean islands, very nice boutiques and like the kind of places to be in Ireland. But also, yeah, I see myself having my own shop in Tokyo, for example, or in Paris.

17:43Why not? Yeah, I see myself growing and I hope that's going to happen. I'm positive about that. That was Irina Morishanu, the founder and owner of Les Vacances d 'Irina. And you can find out more by heading to lesvacancesdirina.com.

18:09You're listening to The Entrepreneurs. Mary Barclay is the Executive Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing for Helen Kaminsky, the heritage Australian brand known for its handcrafted hats and accessories. More than 40 years since its founding, the label is entering a new chapter of global growth with artist collaboration, special projects, and a renewed presence in the US market. I caught up with Mary to hear about what's driving this momentum and the opportunities that lie ahead for the brand. Mary began by explaining how it all connects back to the values that started the business. The brand, we've actually celebrated our 40-year anniversary just a couple of years ago.

18:50So the brand started in 1983, and it started from a one-off hat that Helen Kaminsky herself developed to protect her children from the Australian sun. I'm sure those that have been to Australia know it's incredibly harsh sun here and that was really the beginning. A year later the Classic Five which was the hat was picked up by Vogue the following year and a fashion editorial and interest gained and it really took off from there. Now I think one of the really interesting things that I find about the journey of the brand, Mary, which I hope you'll agree with, is that it kind of was predicated on values and ways of approaching trade that have become the ideal way, by which I mean supporting artisans, investing in craft, thinking about true sustainability of materials.

19:36This was kind of baked into it when Helen kind of got it started all those years ago. Now these are things that lots of brands aspire to. That's quite an interesting journey, isn't it? And do you think that's what's helped as well as the great style of course to give Helen Kaminsky such a kind of enduring appeal is that it had those things that we regard as prerequisites now baked in right from the outset. I think so and it's a very good good point I mean we have authenticity is one of our brand pillars and so we are incredibly fortunate as a brand to have so many authentic stories to tell. Our origins are originally in Madagascar so Helen herself started there many many years ago and worked with artisans within villages there with Raffia.

20:22And then as we expanded the brand in the early 2000s, as we expanded internationally, and so did the need of our supply chain. So this was really a key moment in our brand history and was the introduction, along with the expansion of our supply chain, was the introduction of those Raffia skills into Sri Lanka. So our artisans community began in Sri Lanka in 2012. and has built from that. But there was a story not too long ago that actually our master craftsman, Gary Bishop, shared with the brand as he was talking to someone newer to the brand. And he spoke about how this community really started and how it started with some flyers in a single village in Sri Lanka.

21:10And Madagascan Raffia was tied to a tree and Gary was going around and showing people how to braid. And as we fast forward to now, we have over 6 ,000 artisans in our team. And with that, there come so many inspiring stories that come out of that. And really, what women in particular are able to do in these communities, building their lives, supporting their families, supporting their children, all the while also honing a craft in building their skills in something that they enjoy doing. So it's very special what we do. And yeah, I think Raffia is incredibly trendy, as you would see right now, and becoming even trendier.

22:00It is a natural fiber. It is sustainably harvested in Madagascar. And with that, I think as more and more brands are looking towards sustainable fibers, Rafi is coming up as a key highlight to one I think where we have a significant point of difference is our years working with it and what that allows us to do from our understanding in both crochet and braid techniques and what we can really develop and really pushing the boundaries of what this incredibly pliable durable fiber can do. Yeah absolutely fascinating Mary let's talk a little bit about the products. Now, you mentioned the sort of the classic five, which I think, if you mention Helen Kaminsky, maybe that's the sort of thing that pops into people's heads.

22:49Talk about how the range, the products has developed over the years, because there's been such an acceleration, even just in recent times. I know there's more exciting plans ahead. And I always find it interesting to ask people involved in this, how do you marry up all of that heritage, hard won over four decades, with that quest to keep innovating and surprising your your customers, both established and prospects, because that's always a bit of a balancing act. Tell me how that process has been going. So we have quite a number of styles that have been in the range. Like you said, you have a class at five, you have a Provence in different sizes, you have a Bianca.

23:25And so all of these are the stack bag. All of these you would talk about in customers would really be said that's synonymous with Helen Kaminsky. Where I think has been And incredibly exciting for us is what we have done in those recent years. And what really began is that hat brand has continued to expand into handbags. And more recently, we launched footwear, small accessories, product care, and really kind of taking these to the next level. Next year, we're adding in collection of hair accessories and elevated occasion wear. You know, think weddings, parties, red carpet events through a collection called Studio.

24:02So I think we're looking at a time that, you know, hats are fabulous and they aren't just about sun protection, although that's incredibly important element always. But we want to offer all aspects for the consumer and category expansion in a thoughtful, authentic way is a really great way to get the brand into people's hands and really explore different elements of the craft. and whether that be through a small bag charm or whether that be through a more substantial bag and whatever that might be, then again, having these different price tiers that also showcase the brand's craft. Mary, let me ask you about retail.

24:45How does that kind of work for Helen Kaminsky? I know, obviously, there are a very large number of stockists worldwide, obviously, into the many hundreds, but you've also got, I don't know, I don't know if it's opened or opening a new boutique, not too far, I think, away from where you are right now. Talk to me a little bit about the blend of partnerships, your own bricks and mortar, online. How does that picture look? Yeah, so we have a global distribution. As you mentioned, we have almost up to 400 points of sale. This is across retail, e-commerce, department stores, multi-brand boutiques, and duty-free stores.

25:18We work with distribution partners, wholesale partners, and we manage our own direct retail. Really within our retail, we have 30 stores globally. The one that you actually mentioned, which is our QBB store, that is our global flagship store here in Sydney in the Queen Victoria building. We've actually had this store open for about six years, but we did a renovation in the past year in August and reopened. And alongside of this, we developed a new store concept. So our prior store concept was essentially think of a white box and white shelves, something that we didn't feel like spoke to the warmth of the brand.

26:00So we worked in partnership with Russell and George, who is an Australian architecture design studio based in Melbourne. And their process is really about bringing out the hidden personalities of clients. And so they look and speak to the brand's vision and local market nuances. So the end result is this concept that's biophilic and incorporates a warm, detailed, and carefully considered aesthetics. And we have these great custom design features. One that is in our Sydney store is our heritage wall. So our heritage wall is actually a sculptural interpretation of our hat block wall, which sits in Gary, our master craftsman's workshop.

26:46And what this is, it takes a hat block, a hat mold that you would use to really form the product. And we were able to take one that had an imprint of the actual raffia braid on it. So you see that beautiful texture of the braid. And this is done in the sculptural interpretation. And then the store really brings in different natural textures, different elements. You have a carpet that really reflects the red dirt of the Australian landscape. So we're bringing in these elements that speak to the brand, both from its heritage, but also to where we're going. We look at products like bamboo that really speak to the sustainability of the brand and scalability.

27:30We look at these naturally sourced fibres and materials in both the products and in the store environment to really create an area of warmth. Now, tell me a little bit about the direction of travel. You've mentioned some new product ranges and collections. And obviously, one assumes that there'll be a corollary expansion in that retail network and so forth. What are the sort of the ambitions, Mary? And you can put some kind of hard numbers on it or just give us more of a sense of, I don't know, how you sort of calibrate those ambitions. Tell me about the kind of, I don't know, the five to 10 year time horizon.

28:04Our long term business strategy is set. And by that, I mean our growth is going to come from market expansion and lifestyle product diversification. So we look at these two areas and yes, we anticipate growing in our existing markets. But it's really about looking into new markets and how we wear and grow. continuing to expand into Europe is a key focus of the brand, continuing our expansion into Asia, and then also looking at our lifestyle product diversification. And by that, I spoke to some of the categories earlier that we are looking to touch on, really solidifying our placement of handbags in the collection and making that a more substantial range.