Monday, January 14, 2013

Exemplaire Cashmere

Well, it's been quite cold outside lately here in San Francisco so I'm always looking for clothes to keep me warm.  The fabric of choice for me is always cashmere because the material is so soft and cuddly.   I know I wrote about the king of cashmere Lucien Pellat-Finet not that long ago, but there's a new French upstart that may soon join my short list of must haves cashmere brand: Exemplaire.

The brand is started by two guys, Jean-Victor Meyers and Louis Leboiteux.  Both are only 26 years old and their company's niche is luxurious cashmere with modern silhouettes (think Slimane's Dior Homme) for young guys.  The word Exemplaire means exemplary in English, but in French it is also a play on word "edition" (ie. When you buy an Andy Warhol limited edition prints, you get one out of ten edition, or two out of ten edition).  In this case, only 50 pieces are made for each of 12 styles of slim-cut sweaters.  This ensures that when you walk down a street anywhere in the world, you are not likely to ever see anyone wearing the exact same sweater as you.  These subtle sweaters (in gray, black, and navy) are made from one to five ply cashmere and are made with highest quality; the cashmere is so densely knit that it prevents pilling (I will have to report back on that!).    Currently their hand assembled and sewn cashmere sweaters are made in factories in Tuscany and Mayenne, France and can be found at Montaigne Market and Duchatel in Paris, Dover Street Market in London, Barney's New York in New York and Beverly Hills, or The Corner Berlin in Berlin.      

For their second collection for this coming spring/summer, they plan to double the number of styles and make their sweaters with thin, lightweight blends that will include silk and vicuña!!!!  OMG I can't wait to touch that none boxy (cough cough Loro Piana) vicuña sweater!

With such a young company, who knows how much longer will it be around?  Luckily Jean-Victor Meyers is heir to the L'Oreal fortune so with that kind of backing, I'm sure we will see this brand blossom.

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