Let’s face it. A Made-To-Order service is as exclusive as it gets. A few days ago Robinson Man, a boutique clothing company based out of Melbourne’s popular inner city suburb, Prahran, launched the Jean Rousseau Paris’ Made-To-Order service at their concept boutique. Hosted by Robinson Man Co-Founder Tina Barghout and Jean Rousseau Paris representative Jacqueline Tse from Hong Kong, the MTO service was launched over a Sullivans Cove Distillery whisky tasting in the Robinson Man Men’s Lounge over 2 days. The 23rd of May with Redbar, the largest watching collecting community in Melbourne followed by an intimate evening with friends and press on the 24th of May.
Jean Rousseau has been manufacturing some of the finest watch straps ever since it was founded in 1954 in Besancon. The company has also worked with various independent watchmakers and notable groups such as Richemont, Swatch and LVMH.
Guests were encouraged to participate in a fitting, selecting from the 100 plus swatches, from Alligator to Ostrich to Lizard to Stingray. Jean Rousseau Paris has supplied RobinsonMan with the proper tools and training to continue to provide the service to customers in Australia.
Tina Barghout Co-Founder of Robinson Man explained, ‘we assist the customer to complete a form that Jean Rousseau Paris uses at its Ateliers internationally. We interview the customer whereby they are able to choose the thickness of the edge, type of lining, even the type of scales, like large or small, square or round. Even the stitching and pinholes are customisable. It’s very detailed!’
The key strong point of Jean Rousseau Paris is that they are the only leather goods manufacturer of this type in France with their own tannery. According to President Jacques Bordier of Jean Rousseau ‘Ten years ago, most tanneries were making alligator for use in wallets or belts, but not specifically for watchstraps. Our main business was watchstraps, so we took great care in emphasizing research and development in our own leather alligator leather techniques, to deal with problems specific to watchstraps – sweat, allergens, and such. So, after 15 years of work, I would say we have the best possible tannery of this type in the world.’
With its unique vertical integration, including tannery, CAD, prototyping and even mechanical department where its own tooling is executed enabling full control of the entire production process and capacity to adapt to specific customer needs. Jean Rousseau Paris is continually investing and extending this know how in multiple fields related to fine leather activity such new colours development, new products including small leather goods.