Business July 15, 2022

NSEW ( NORTH SOUTH EAST WEST ) is a French brand of high-end scarves

By Nazmul Huda

NSEW ( NORTH SOUTH EAST WEST ) is a French brand of high-end scarves that creates squares and large silk shawls, wool and cashmere stoles and collaborates with various fashion brands and museums such as the POMPIDOU CENTER, the HOSPICES DE BEAUNE, SWAROVSKI, etc.

The scarf collection was born in 2015, from the meeting of the artist Vinus and Agathe Collette as sales manager. The artist creates the collections by presenting his emblematic characters and muses, Easty and Westy, two mischievous twins whose sources of inspiration are French poetry from Cocteau to Jean Genet, dreamlike or real urban journeys depending on the scarves like the gardens of Frida Khalo or the Manhattan Factory.

Easty and Westy are active icons, collaborating in the promotion of BRUYEN champagne, a new French brand, or frolicking top models, sketched in the GAZETTE GRISE, an artistic fashion magazine, or getting involved in the stole for charity for the French association LE REFUGE.

Vinus considers scarves as a communication tool to illustrate the “cabinet of curiosities” of his imagination. Instead of a “fashion” collection, it is rather a suite of timeless pieces grouped together online such as the “World Theater” squares, the “Fashion Street” stoles or the large “Magic Garden” shawls. It is a collection that is completed with the seasons and delivers its message of freedom and cultural exchange.

With Agathe Collette, Vinus is developing NSEW through showrooms, fairs or partnerships with agents to expand a French network of multi-brand shops where their products are found. They develop their website NSEW-ESHOP.FR backed by the official website NSEW.FR also linked to social networks with Face Book and Instagram. To boost production, they collaborate with different institutions or brands and create exclusive scarves or stoles such as for the Pompidou Center or Swarovski crystal. For the past two years,

Agathe and Vinus have been supported by Sonia Turner, who is developing the brand in the United States and has exclusive development rights with a dedicated website NSEWSCARVES.COM and various local actions. She manages her own stock and works closely with Vinus to develop this market.

It is clear the COVID period, and the various confinements have not helped the economic dynamism of this type of product, scarves, and that collaborations with museums, among others, linked to their derivative product clientele, have not facilitated creative opportunities.

Today you must be smart in the development of your market and very active. Many things change in our time, the world is global and at the same time places, shops or brands are unique and claim their own identity. Buyers need to be guided, reassured and followed-up, which is not easy in our fragile era, stuck between pandemics, wars and social awakenings. A young brand is a school in itself, a difficult but formative commitment and an adventure never forgotten. You must believe in it, never give up, and move forward.