Nona Source has figured out how to turn LVMH fashion houses’ deadstock material into a dynamic and rich resource for innovative and flexible designers. 

Creativity and resourcefulness are two of the most potent tools in fashion’s efforts to mitigate the industry’s environmental impact. Nona Source, a high-end surplus materials reseller that will celebrate its two-year anniversary in the spring, is a thriving example of this.

Named for Nona, the goddess in Roman mythology who spins the thread of life, this online platform sells deadstock leather and fabrics from LVMH maisons. Creatives can peruse and order from a dynamic selection of woven and knit fabrics, as well as leather and other materials.

The concept is one that invites ingenuity and circularity from customers. By the nature of the materials, being deadstock, there might be at any given moment 825 metres of a black cupro and cotton shiny twill; 24 metres of a brown hairy alpaca suiting; and 35 square-metres of black glitter varnished calfskin, and the selection is regularly changing. Designers take inspiration from what is available.

At the same time, deadstock is given new life. Instead of being tucked in the back of a storeroom somewhere or, worse, relegated to an ugly mountain of discarded materials, it turns heads on runways and the streets of glamorous cities in the form of stunning and unique creations. The Nona Source Instagram page is filled with colourful, striking images of dresses, jackets, bags and more, all made with the platform’s rescued materials.

Marie Falguera, a co-founder of Nona Source, tells World Leather that customers vary, from established brands to independent designers and young talents launching new labels. All share a key trait: “They have in common the willingness to work differently,” she says, “by using existing resources without compromising on quality or inspiration.”

An enthusiastic welcome

Nona Source was, as its founders describe, “born out of happy encounters”. Romain Brabo, an expert in material purchasing and manufacturing at LVMH-owned brands Givenchy and Kenzo, came across what he called “sleeping beauties” being stored in various luxury labels’ warehouses; he quickly sensed the opportunity to revive the high-quality materials. Through LVMH’s global intrapreneurial programme DARE (Disrupt, Act & Risk to be an Entrepreneur), Mr Brabo met Anne Prieur du Perray, the digital transformation manager at LVMH, and Ms Falguera, who was an environmental coordinator for Kenzo and a materials expert. DARE provided the three with the mentorship and support needed to make Nona Source a reality, and the platform officially launched in 2021. Now, Ms Falguera oversees product, Ms Prieur du Perray is in charge of operations, and Mr Brabo heads business development. 

They now have more than ten LVMH maisons from which to pull materials and sometimes as many as 1,200 options available online at one time. For Ms Falguera, customers buy from Nona Source  for the quality and competitive pricing, but also, essentially, for the carefully-cultivated buying process. 

“We believe digital is a great accelerator of circularity, and especially of sustainable sourcing,” she says, “so we keep on improving the user experience and the service to customers.”

Establishing an effective system for presenting materials digitally was a priority from the start. In a video produced around the time of the launch, the co-founders discussed how they were circumventing the challenges posed by consumers not seeing materials in person. 

“The search for materials is an extremely sensory experience for young designers,” Ms Falguera says in the video, “so we worked a lot on the ‘touch and feel’ experience to get a digital replication that’s as beautiful as possible, working on the photos, videos and detailed descriptions.” 

Now, nearly two years later, she finds these efforts have paid off. When asked what has surprised her most since launching Nona Source, Ms Falguera responds: “The enthusiastic welcome our solution received from all fashion professionals and the quick adoption of the digital sourcing; many customers order without touching the fabrics.”

To illustrate, consider the listing for a small consignment of toffee-coloured leather from Tuscany (which may or may not still be available as you read this). In addition to a high-resolution photo of the product, a short video shows the material being handled, spread out flat, rolled, folded this way and that, even running an arm beneath to show how the leather rises and falls. The description (in this case, “natural calfskin with warm colour and a unique velvet touch” is accompanied by details such as grain (“smooth”), ‘sensoriality’ (“peach-skin touch”), handfeel (“unstretchable and super supple”), and original use (“shoes”) as well as a technical sheet and other information about its provenance, in this case Conceria Sciarada in Castelfranco di Sotto. Although the consumer isn’t able to touch the fabric through the screen, the presentation leaves little room for surprises. 

There are, however, options for touching the materials. Two showrooms, one in Paris and one in London, invite customers to see stock in person (by appointment). The Paris location is at La Caserne, which Ms Falguera describes as an incubator dedicated to eco-responsible fashion, located in a former fire-station. 

The London showroom opened in May this year in Mills Fabrica, a workspace dedicated to sustainable innovators. At the time, LVMH environment director, Hélène Valade, described the new venue as an illustration of Nona Source’s commitment to the group’s LIFE (LVMH Initiatives For the Environment) 360 programme. “By supporting the London and UK-based creative community, we also aim at boosting circularity and upcycling of our unused fabrics as we have done with the Parisian showroom,” she says. 

“The showroom in London is totally similar to our Paris showroom, the same articles displayed, same services,” says Ms Falguera. But having a London location helps to circumvent some of the logistical challenges created by the UK’s departure from the European Union. “Brexit,” she says, “brought some challenges, especially for very small brands, such as customs lead time, processes and costs.”

Staying local and sustainable

When Nona Source first launched and the three co-founders laid out their vision, the platform’s circularity was highlighted as mission critical. “The future for Nona is to become an innovative circular programme committed to more ethical fashion,” Mr Romain says in the aforementioned video. He is followed by Ms Falguera who adds: “The future for Nona is to become an innovative circular programme committed to more ethical fashion.” And, Ms Prieur du Perray concludes, “become the sourcing solution of choice among young designers across Europe.”

So far, the platform seems to be holding true to those ideas. “We offer easy access to existing, high-quality fabrics, encouraging reuse to reduce waste and pollution,” says Ms Falguera now. Currently Nona Source only delivers in the European Union and the UK to “favour local sourcing and limit transport carbon footprint” as the stock is located in France. 

She points out that the “sleeping beauties”, as they still like to call the deadstock, all come from the luxury maisons of LVMH, which are themselves committed to ethical and responsible sourcing. “The whole value chain is compliant with the highest standards on ethics, chemical use, and animal welfare,” she says. 

What’s next?

Following a bright start, the co-founders are working now to continue growing Nona Source’s offerings. This includes extending the platform’s reach and working on collaborations with other fashion houses, labels, says Ms Falguera, that “are great ambassadors for the creative circularity we promote”.

The ability to operate online is fundamental to the group’s sustainability ethos and remains a top focus, so they will also continue improving the user experience and the services to customers, she continues, emphasising that the platform’s digital approach makes sustainable sourcing easier.

This is important because sustainable sourcing is “one of the pillars of eco design,” she says, and her platform “encourages and supports brands and creatives willing to accelerate their transition towards a more circular economy model.”  

Nona Source’s second showroom opened in London this year.   Credit: Andre Kong Studio

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