In 2025, French luxury leather goods brand Camille Fournet is celebrating its 80th anniversary. The brand was founded in 1945 by Camille Fournet, a craftsman based in the Aisne region of France. Over the years, the company has broadened its business, notably with leather goods.
In the 1960s, Camille Fournet began to create leather watch straps for French and Swiss watch makers. Tapping this expertise, and producing at a factory that was opened in the 1970s in Tergnier, France, the brand launched the first Camille Fournet watch straps in 2006, then introduced a range of leather goods in 2020, notably belts and handbags. The Camille Fournet brand now accounts for 25% of the company’s €40 million revenue.
To continue to grow, the brand, which opened a store on rue Cambon in Paris in 2006, and has two stores in Japan in addition to various department store concessions, is keen to boost its export retail business.
“Japan has always been our main market in terms of in-store sales, but the USA is now number one in terms of e-commerce sales. There is a strong appetite for French leather goods [in the US],” said Jean-Yves Basin, CEO of Camille Fournet.
Its unisex leather products retail on average at prices between €1,500 and €1,700. The brand will be available in New York in March via a space in “a French department store,” said Basin. Camille Fournet’s retail expansion drive will then focus on opening shop-in-shops in India and the Middle East: at Galeries Lafayette in Mumbai this summer, and in Dubai in the autumn.
Camille Fournet was bought in 1994 by its current president and majority shareholder Jean-Luc Déchery, while new minority shareholders bought stakes last year. The company is also strengthening its third-party production business for luxury labels.
A year ago, it invested €7 million in a new facility at its Tergnier production site, with the goal of increasing its handbag manufacturing capacity for French luxury labels.
Claiming the title of the “world’s most renowned satchel brand” Cambridge Satchel is on the expansion trail again. The made-in-Britain leather goods company has opening its fourth UK store, close to the King’s Berkshire residence, Windsor Castle. The 46.2 sq m Grade II-listed retail unit is close to tourist-busy Windsor Royal Station and Cambridge Satchel says the space is “its most ambitious store design to date”.
Following on from its London Covent Garden, Cambridge and Leeds stores, the new opening has been co-designed by CEO Carine de Koenigswarter and architects Atelier A&D to “create a bold and beautiful design, taking inspiration from the Art Deco movement”.
A double-height ceiling has been reinstated to showcase a double-sided entrance while a concealed and illuminated coffer at a higher level “creates an extra sense of lightness and height”.
A listed fireplace has been also been reinstated and offset with a large lightbox showcasing the brand’s products. Front windows feature a series of custom-built Sheffield steel cubes “applying an extra sense of luxury”.
Finally, a central circle of custom-made joinery allows customers to browse and shop small leather goods and charms.
In additional to the brand’s main collection, additional product includes an exclusively designed range tailored towards the historic royal town including a Union Jack Heart, a Crown as well as a named Windsor charm that’s part of its new ‘Swizzles Love Hearts’ collection. A Corgi and Guardsman charm completes the options in a location globally known for its royal connections.
“Known for its rich British history and tradition of education, our Windsor location reflects Cambridge Satchel’s dedication to scholarship and British craftsmanship, offering international visitors the chance to own a piece of what makes Britishness so unique,” said de Koenigswarter.
And more than hinting there’s more to come of the expansion front, she added: “Following the successful openings in Leeds and Windsor, we are continuing to expand our retail presence in key cities.”
It’s not just mainstream fashion brand collections M&S is focused on launching. The high street retail giant has linked up with UK charity YoungMinds to launch a competition for young people to create a design that will be introduced in-store linked to this year’s M&S/YoungMinds ‘Hello Yellow’ kidswear collection.
We’ll have to wait until autumn for the winners’ launch as it’s going to neatly tie into World Mental Health Day.
Spearheaded by M&S x YoungMinds partnership ambassador and mother Rochelle Humes and combining with Children’s Mental Health Week, the competition invites young people across the UK to design a sweatshirt or hoodie that will be sold in M&S stores across the UK and online. All profits will be donated to YoungMinds to help more young people feel supported with their mental health.
The designs will feature on two special pieces in the collection, reflecting the age categories for the competition – 5-11 and 12-16 year-olds – with one winner chosen from each.
The winners, along with their parents/guardians, will get exclusive behind the scenes access to see their ideas become a reality, visiting the M&S support centre in London to see their design turned into the artwork, visiting the supplier factory in the Midlands to see the products being printed, and being part of the launch.
The winners will also receive enough sweatshirts or hoodies featuring their designs for everyone in their class to wear on the annual ‘Hello Yellow’ event when teachers, pupils, parents and colleagues wear the specific colour on that day, “to show young people that they are not alone with their mental health”.
Victoria McKenzie-Gould, corporate affairs director at M&S, said: “With the incredible support of our colleagues and customers, we’re proud to have raised over £3 million in just over one year to support young people’s mental health. Together with YoungMinds, we’re building a coalition of the hopeful and showing young people they’re never alone and there is support available when they need it most.”
Fashion e-tailer In The Style has unveiled its first 2025 collaboration collection with BBC Strictly Come Dancing 2024 show winner, Dianne Buswell. The new collection has just dropped featuring looks based around a week in Buswell’s life as a professional dancer.
The concept includes matching active and comfort looks, with the brand’s best-selling sculpt and control leggings and unitards featuring alongside its split-hem leggings and flares. Also, the brand’s power mesh technology, used in its ‘sculpt and control’ collection, has been extended to include the unitards for the new release, its noted.
“Staying true to her own life and schedule”, the collection also reflects 99% of her wardrobe in a mix of active and athleisure, Buswell said: “It’s great to be able to put together an authentic collection that is full of pieces that are practical, stylish and comfortable to complement a busy and active lifestyle.”
Phoebe Russell, marketing director of In the Style, added: “We are best known for our celebrity and influencer-based collaborations, and this one to kick off 2025 is one to be excited about. When deciding on our collections, we want to lean into people who wear these wardrobe staples day in and day out, and when it comes to activewear, we really knew Dianne would be such an asset.”