Interview with Virginie Trento: 10 years of Au-Delà du Cuir
Since its creation ten years ago, Au-Delà du Cuir has established itself as a major player in transformation and support within the fashion industry.
Under the direction of Virginie Trento, the incubator celebrated its 10th anniversary this year with the launch of the "Au Clair d'ADC" podcast, as well as a special magazine retracing a decade of innovation and achievement.
Supported and financed by the Filière Française du Cuir, Au-Delà du Cuir, or ADC, was born in 2012 thanks to the initiative of the Fédération Française de la Chaussure and the Conseil National du Cuir. The incubator's mission is to support the young guard of the leather goods, footwear and accessories industries, highlighting their creativity and favoring French or European manufacturing. Through a cross-functional program, ADC instills a real dynamic within the entrepreneurial fashion ecosystem, offering support to both emerging and fast-growing brands, placing innovation and sustainability at the heart of its missions.
ADC in 3 words?
Label. Performance. Agility.
What motivated you to join ADC?
Before joining ADC, I worked for WSN. Before that, I also worked in marketing and sales management for French brands. For more than 20 years, I've been working on adapting to the structure you're dealing with, and enabling brands to move up the ladder by taking into account their entire ecosystem, both in terms of performance and development capacity in France and internationally. In an incubator, you have to go beyond what's being done today in terms of entrepreneurial innovation, and that's what was interesting for me.
What kind of challenges does being an incubator entail?
The first challenge is to make sure that the entrepreneur we're supporting can accept the friendly benevolence we show when we come into contact with him, and that he understands that our aim is to challenge him. There's a real sense of trust and relevance with the people who come here, and they know that we're not going to brush them under the carpet. We're going to make a real attempt, by calling on other experts, to help them overcome any hang-ups they may have. These are human issues.
ADC is 10 years old. What have been the main changes in the structure?
The structure has been a very good tool from the outset. ADC was created at the same time as the first major fashion incubators. The program has remained true to its origins. It hasn't changed in principle, which is to energize very small businesses. It's the entrepreneurs who have really changed over the past 10 years. There have been different eras: that of stylists who weren't necessarily good business managers, there were the first entrepreneurs from business schools who were more marketers than creators, there were the DNVBs, or the wave before COVID of Made In France entrepreneurship. The incubator has experienced many different challenges in 10 years.
What are ADC's future projects?
We must always keep this mission of energizing the fabric of France's VSE and SME accessory sector. My ambition is for us to become an internationally recognized leader. To be able to attract other talents, other vocations to create businesses with French recipes. There's still a lot to build around the future entrepreneurship project. Our mission is to accelerate brands, to make the French way of doing business shine, and to be at the heart of innovation.
What can we expect from the ADC 2024 class?
I'd say there's more diversity. The year 2024 already confirms the start we had in 2023, of an extremely mixed class both in terms of company sizes, emerging projects and others that are very established or brands with rather young and dynamic entrepreneurs. That's what's so interesting about this mix, which makes for mutually enriching experiences.
What role does the showroom play for these young brands?
We welcome a lot of different people from the fashion and luxury ecosystem, accessories and other sectors. It's a place to meet and share. It's where we work on a daily basis, where we welcome our prizewinners. They all come here to do their coaching, and for networking, lunch and training sessions. It's also a place where we exhibit their creations to share their work. We also hold seminars related to the arts and crafts.
What are the challenges facing young brands in the sector?
All the current challenges facing the fashion and luxury ecosystem, such as CSR. We need to create a brand that is sustainable and strong, and at the same time respects social, environmental and climate standards, as well as those that will be imposed by the government. It's a challenge to create a strong brand with all the challenges we face today. Energy and raw material costs are increasingly high. All these challenges, the difficulties of sourcing, the costs.
What's the relationship between ADC and Premiere Classe?
It's a relationship of trust. We are trusted partners. I'm very attached to this show. Even before I started working there, I used to exhibit there when I was working in the accessories and fashion sector. I think it's still a great show; it's the only international accessory show. It reflects what the market is today. We're all part of the same ecosystem. It's an important moment when you get a real feel for the market.
How can WSN support ADC even more?
By supporting us. We have a lot of plans for the next ten years. Anything that takes the form of a project, of course WSN will be made aware of and will be requisitioned as support. Today, I feel really welcome, I still feel part of this team.
