Longchamp
Every lady who can call herself “a Bag addict”, knows Longchamp. This company is 62 years old (in 2010) and was created by a French gentleman Jean Cassegrain.
Longchamp history is one of the most amazing history of the leather industry. Everybody would imagine that Jean Cassegrain was a dealer in fine leather goods. Not at all ! Jean Cassegrain was a newsdealer and a tobacco dealer. And after the World War II, he found himself with a huge amount of pipes in stock ; Apparently, pipes were the soldiers’ favorite. That’s how he got the idea to create his first line of leather covered pipes. With such a success, he first created “Jean Cassegrain & Compagnie”, then transformed it into “Longchamp”, in reference to one of the last windmill of Paris, located near the racetrack of Longchamp, very well known in France for its equestrian races. As a result, the logo of Longchamp is a horse.
One of the most popular lines of Longchamp is the Pliage collection. Pliage means “folding”. This whole collection is made in canvas, and can be folded in a very small and convenient traveling size when not is use. The bag itself is beautiful and practical, and its price is very reasonable. It knew and still knows a worldwide success.
The LM line was also very famous. It was launched in the early 1970′s in the Japanese market. The original bag was made with calfskin leather that was silk-screened with the vintage horse and belt criss-cross logo. Longchamp discontinued this collection in the 1980′s.
Today, Longchamp represents the know-how in fine leather goods. The advertising campain has featured french well-known figures like Alice Taglioni, French actress, Laure Manaudou, French Olympic, World and European champion swimmer, and more recently, Super Model Kate Moss who has designed a handbag collection with the brand’s artistic director Sophie Delafontaine.