Great-grandsons relaunch famous Paris leathergoods brand 50 years on
18/09/2015
Leather artisan Jacques Hopenstand was born in Poland in 1902 but moved to Paris to set up a business making bags and other leathergoods in 1925. There were ups and downs in the early years, but the brand became well known after a series of joint-projects with big names in fashion such as Nina Ricci, Bally, Lancel and, especially, Morabito.
One famous and successful collaboration was on a new style of clutch bag that Hopenstand designed and produced for Schiaparelli, which was later widely copied. The J. Hopenstand workshop closed its doors in the 1960s.
Almost 50 years on, in the early part of 2015, two great-grandsons of the founder, Rémi et Renaud Defrancesco, decided to bring back the J.Hopenstand brand. They have set up an online business, based in Switzerland, to take orders for, make and deliver made-to-measure luxury belts and other small leathergoods such as card-holders.
In a recent interview with Swiss media, Rémi Defrancesco commented: “People may think of artisan leathergoods producers as a thing of the past, but for me it’s the future. If we allow our artisan skills to disappear, we lose part of our heritage.”
The new J.Hopenstand brand believes there is a gap in the market for its made-to-measure luxury belt offering, stating that it’s often extremely difficult for men and women to find a belt that complements properly the shoes they choose to wear, and as well as selling online, they have a vision of carrying out visits to clients’ homes to host small, Tupperware-party style sales events.
Their preferred materials are French calf leather, with some carefully sourced exotics in the range too.
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