Retro Verso
Retro Verso
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About
Welcome to Retro Verso! My name is Charlien and I would love to tell you how this store full of cheerful and colourful clothing was created.
Immediately after I obtained my bachelor’s degree in Fashion Technology, it was itching to start my own clothing line. I could make the rugs myself, but unfortunately there was no budget for a physical store. This online store was created in 2013.
The starting points would certainly be quality and exclusivity – after all, nothing beats seeing people walking around in your self-designed, handmade dresses. In addition, a maximum of 10 pieces were made per model.
There was not much budget for advertising, but I could no longer keep up with the number of requests – especially customization. Unfortunately, manual work does not scale at all and soon I was faced with a real dilemma; outsource production or change tack. For example, I decided to look for colourful brands that I was going to sell through my webshop.
Fortunately, at that time I was able to use a fitting room and some display space in my parents’ shoe store so that my customers could try on clothes. Retro Verso, the shop-in-shop was born. Some time later, it seemed a good choice to leave the building entirely to Retro Verso.
In August 2017, the physical store opened, completely in the vintage style, on top of the web store.
Retro Verso now sells brands that you all know: 4 Funky Flavors, Froy & Dind, King Louie, Le Pep, Mademoiselle YéYé, Sugarhill Brighton, Blutsgeschwister, …
To this day I do everything myself: running the physical store, the webshop, purchasing, accounting, and most importantly for me: putting a smile on people’s faces 😉
Happy shopping!
Greetings,
Charlien
Vrijheidsstraat 1A bus 12 Denderleeuw 9470 Belgium
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About Us
Our story is one about great things. About handy things. About beautiful things.
But above all, about friendship. About four childhood friends who found each other in an unbridled passion for quality and craftsmanship. At Comme Quatre there are therefore few restrictions. We just make what feels true to us. No extravagant fuss, but unarticulated simplicity. With the feeling of being a bit special.
We like to design everyday objects such as a stylish handbag, spectacle box, key ring, wallet, wallet or handkerchief with a few striking features such as the graceful cowhides. A creative trait that we like to mix with our insatiable hunger for adventure, variety and entrepreneurship. Talent is present as well. Each in his or her own way. And love. Lots of love. For each other and for the products we create, and that’s a fact.
Our Story
exquisite & honestly handmade
Not only a brand, Comme Quatre is a creative, playful and human project. All our products are handmade by traditional craftsmen whom we admire for their knowhow, entrepreneurship and courage. Together we create a sustainable product.
#nowaste
A Comme Quatre handbag, just like a pair of glasses, key ring, wallet, wallet or pouch is a nice example of upcycling. Say again? Upcycling goes just a little further than recycling: transforming old and allegedly unusable materials into something valuable and often more beautiful than before. In this way, our cowhides are upcycled from meat waste into a sustainable material that lasts for years and can be broken down by nature after use. The hides are also tanned plant-based, i.e. without the addition of harmful substances.
timeless class
Six collections a year? Not for us. By designing our cowhide accessories to look beyond the latest trends, they are wearable every season. Slow fashion it is. Quality leather products are handmade by traditional craftsmen. For example, a handbag, spectacle case, key ring, wallet or pouch by Comme Quatre is not only fashionable, but also durable.
unique
Each accessory guarantees 100% supple leather and natural cowhide. Each with their own unique print and ditto character. The pattern of the cowhides are different for each accessory, due to the colour differences in the coat of the cow. So every handbag, spectacle case, key ring, wallet or pouch from Comme Quatre is slightly different and always gives a distinctive touch to your outfit.
Our Team
Miloud, chief workshop
“Working with natural products is what I have done all my life. More than 15 years have I been working in this atelier. I am in charge of overseeing the production process, creation of the malls, cutting the hides and leather, and the final inspection of the finished goods.”
Fatima, artisan
“I am the youngest of our team and still in ’training’, learning how to prepare the different components of our products for the knitting team. I love the fact that we start with a cowhide and finish with a bag or accessory which will be cherished by someone for many years. ”
Mbark, artisan
“I have been working in this workshop for more than 15 years. I am mainly in charge of the different knitting machines which we use on leather, cowhide and tissues. I love this variation in my job, and like the fact that we can participate in the creation process of the products.”
Belaid, artisan
“I have been working for more than 10 years in this workshop, but I have been in the fashion industry all my life. I am in charge of assembling the products. I like the interaction between the craftmen and the fact we actively participate in the design and creation process ”
Hafida, artisan
“I am assisting Mbark and Belaid in the preparation of the different parts they need to assemble, in between the different stages of the production, I implement the zippers and closures. I like the fact we create beautiful products.”
Our Values
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Hoet has launched the ‘Made in Belgium’ 3D laser-printed eyeglasses made of titanium. The 3D technology offers a number of unprecedented options in terms of design and in addition, this technology is eco-friendly – a feature that must not be overlooked.
Design: the front part is made of titanium with an open structure that varies per model. When using only classical production techniques, it is nearly impossible to achieve similar frames. The 3D laser-printed HC collection includes 4 models. For the best possible comfort these eyeglasses are available in various lens and bridge sizes and are equipped with adjustable temples. The models H2 and F2 even have moveable nose pads.
Eco-friendly: This technology produces eyeglasses without creating any waste, while using a very low amount of energy. An additional eco-friendly aspect is that there is no need for the production of stock.
The Hoet Couture eyeglasses are modern and beautiful. Quality and comfort as always are the basic precepts. They are rust-proof and anti-allergic, light, yet durable and well-fitting and each available in 5 size combinations for nose and glasses.
A pair of eyeglasses, custom made and personalized with your own name engraved in the temple!
klaverstraat 71 Bruges 8000 belgium
Isabelle Lenfant
Isabelle LenfantMore Info
IL concept
‘The most beautiful jewel a person can wear are the arms of the person she loves.
For those who have had the good fortune of finding this happiness and those who haven’t yet, I am here…’ (Isabelle Lenfant, inspired by Y.S.L.)
Transforming everyday objects into precious jewels and imprinting them with life’s sensibility so that they remain engraved in our memory: that is the approach chosen by Belgian jewellery designer Isabelle Lenfant for what she calls her Heart Jewels.
For Isabelle, jewels are highly symbolic: they can evoke a memory, a presence, a sense of protection…
They form a second skin… as well as a suit of armour between the body and the world, shielding it from the inevitable ups and downs that are part of a life lived to the fullest.
As Jeanne Moreau once said: ‘I don’t have much of a memory… but I do have souvenirs’. Jewels are that souvenir…
This jewel tells a story… Isabelle’s dream is that the people who wear her designs will appropriate them and imbue them with their own history, their own symbolism – their life, quite simply – and that they will thus wear… la vie en rose.
Isabelle Lenfant’s initials – ‘IL’ – blend both femininity and masculinity.
The collection ‘IL by Isabelle Lenfant’ reimagines everyday objects, such as a Band-Aid wrapped around a finger or applied on a neck or wrist. A silver or gold diamond, in whose split genuine jewels are inserted…
The branches of a tree to remind us that we are the only solid foundation of our lives…
As Juliette Binoche once said: ‘To dream, you must have your feet on the ground. The deeper the roots, the stronger the branches’.
The pieces in the collection are in 925 silver and in 18-carat gold. Some pieces are set with precious stones such as diamonds or rubies and have been designed in the finest tradition of jewellery design.
An important part of Isabelle’s research focuses on individuality, on the adaptable nature of her designs. The chains can thus be worn in different ways, and those who wear them are thus in a sense continuing her designs. The chains are ornamented with unusual symbols: a set of keys to unlock all possibilities, envelopes that are open to receive a secret, a love letter, a plug and socket to disconnect, smashed watches and their mechanisms to arrest time and live in the present…
The pieces in the collection ‘IL by Isabelle Lenfant’ are a presence one forgets, an ‘otherwise’. They carry us into a world lit up by the beauty of experience, of not-forgetting and of individuality. A world where life is punctuated by three ellipsis points and not a full stop. A world where adaptable jewels offer a blank page to those who wear them and imprint them with their own story, their own secrets, their own symbolism and thus turn the given piece into something unique, in their own image.
Know-how
« IL by Isabelle Lenfant » ART jewels are designed hand-crafted, in the pure jewellery tradition. Made in Belgium and in France.
“IL’s” creations exist in hand-polished sterling silver (925/1000) or charcoal grey oxidized.
Silver is a living matter that individualizes each creation. In time …life tarnishes and oxidizes it….This matter itself symbolizes the concept of uniqueness that is developed thereafter in Isabelle Lenfant’s creations… it consolidates and embraces it.
As “Il by Isabelle Lenfant”’s creations are neither silver plated again nor rhodium… they oxidise in the course of time … If you want them to remain as they are just clean them with a soft cloth or use a product for silver.
Though cut to the quick as if life had already brushed them… the chains are joined together by links soldered by hand.
Lockets are also hand-cut and each of the keys is chipped in a different way … that makes them unique.
Polishing makes it a mirror… reflecting shades and lights…
A large part of Isabelle Lenfant’s search focuses on individuality, on the adjustable side of her creations. Chains can be worn in various ways, in different lengths … what allows the one wearing the jewel to make it his/her own.
The Collection extends to 18 carat gold items, black, white…but mainly pink ones to wear life in another way.
Gold is a matter that time can’t deteriorate. That way it symbolizes the sparkle kept in our eyes despite our own life’s chaos…
Today “Il by Isabelle Lenfant” ‘s creations are set with precious stones, according to the stones symbolic and colours, inside the ring allowing the skin to be in contact with the stone and its qualities
Own desires and secrets could also be engraved…
Custom-made jewels to transform the proposed item into one unique piece reflecting the one who will adopt it….
29 rue vilain XIV Brussels 1000 Belgium
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Woman of the world, discreet and passionate philanthropist, visionary businesswoman: Myriam Ullens de Schooten has a thousand lives. And each and every one of them feeds her never-ending and tireless creative energy. In 2009, just five years after founding the Mimi Foundation that supports people with cancer, she launched her own clothing brand. First named MUS after her name’s initials, the brand have since been renamed Maison Ullens. Its purpose? To imagine and to create the perfect wardrobe for a woman like her: traveling around the world but remaining elegant and stylish.
You never cheat with quality
The first store opens in Aspen, Colorado. The second one in Paris, Rue Marignan, at the corner of one of the most renowned place in Paris: Avenue Montaigne. Follow a one year pop-up shop in London, in the heart of the fancy, iconic and Francophile neighborhood of South Kensington. Her inspiration, Myriam finds it during her travels and fuels it with her passions, art and architecture. Each of the Maison Ullens’ shop designed by Rem Koolhass features a piece of art, by Anish Kapoor or Ado Chale. Because in her personal life as in her business life, Myriam never forgets the advice the famous chef Gaston Lenôtre once gave her: you never cheat with quality.
After finishing business school, Kim Laursen decided to take a different path. And passing the entrance exam of the Kolding School of Fashion and Design on a hunch was not randomly: when he was a teenager, he would already draw dresses and clothing pattern in his notebook. But when the jury asked him to produce a summer collection, he’d rather went with a winter collection. A daring move – that made him pass the exam with honors from the jury. And “daring” continue to define Kim today. Fascinated by Paris and Montmartre district, he came to the City of Lights in 1990. He quickly landed an internship with one of his idol: Christian Lacroix. The internship was supposed to last two months. It will last 14 years.
The impossible alchemy between simple and complex
An amazing career marked with collaboration with some of the most prestigious houses and brands like Kenzo, Cacharel, Azzaro, Paule Ka, Vanessa Seward and Elie Saab.In September 2014, he took the head of the creation of Maison Ullens, walking in the footsteps of Veronique Leroy. Always looking for elegant and easy-to-wear clothing, Kim’s goal is to combine his minimalistic codes to our different collections. Passionate about contemporary art and fascinated by geometry, he tirelessly tries to mix materials and patterns in the hope of achieving the impossible alchemy between simple and complex. Between sophistication and well-being.
The label Made in Italy is not merely an indication of the product’s origin. It’s a statement. A statement that guarantees the use of raw material of exceptional quality – both for the production of many renowned fashion brands and for the craft of the most skilled artisans.The expertise and “savoir-faire” of traditional workshops are a priceless asset of the Italian fashion. And its value in the luxury world goes beyond any measurements or assessments.
Whether it is our factories near Venice or Florence or our leather workshop outside Florence these different places are thriving toward the same goal, the endless quest that drives Maison Ullens : the pursuit of excellence.It is that combination of extraordinary techniques and high quality raw material that created what makes the essence of Maison Ullens. An essence which we are using to deliver the best quality to our sophisticated and discerning clientele with which we have built up a very unique connection. One that seeks out exclusivity and genuine “savoir faire”.
Rue François Dubois 2 La Hulpe 1310 Belgium
4 rue de Marignan Paris 75008 France
727 Madison Avenue New York NY 10065 USA
445 East Hopkins Aspen CO 81611 USA
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SENNES combines Portuguese and Belgian tradition, high-sustainable Portuguese Wool & Belgian Linen, two noble, ecological fibers with opposite natural characteristics as guiding principles towards function and shape.
SENNES is globally inspired by climate change in nature and culture, therefore conceived as an annual wardrobe. A continuous developing collection where with every series of bags & garments, high quality woven fabrics, know-how and skills from ethno cultural origins are studied and subsequently interpreted in each individual pattern language.
A sustainable brand with a focus on uniquely textile crafted design. The human collective culture is our inspiration to create new collection items; each new design is a genuine attempt to open up new perspectives to intercultural dialogue.
Nele De Block
Art Director and founder Nele De Block is Belgian and studied Textile Design at ENSAV La Cambre, Brussels.
She develops her passion and technical skills for weaving at first as a textile designer for automotive.
She then becomes Art Director for BETET SKARA: (Antwerp, 1999-2007) originally created as a social integration program for political Assyrian refugees. In this weaving studio she conducts the process of woven prototyping and production for fashion designers, artists and architects such as Haider Ackermann, Christian Wynants, Bruno Pieters, Stijn Helsen, Tim Van Steenbergen, Bernhard Willhelm, Dries Van Noten and Peter Pilotto.
Simultaneous she teaches Textile Design at Saint Lucas Art School Ghent and is trend forecaster for the Textile Industry.
SENNES is setup in 2010, when Nele is introduced in Portugal as a textile designer to one of the last remaining traditional wool weavers of the Serra da Estrela region.
Since SENNES combines Portuguese and Belgian tradition, high-sustainable Portuguese Wool & Belgian Linen, two noble, ecological fibers with opposite natural characteristics as guiding principles towards function and shape.
Hofstraat 5 Antwerp 2000 Belgium
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A LILU BAG IS…
More than a fashion accessory, your handbag, is an extension of you. A reflection of your personality, an ally in your day to day. LILU bags are a crafted fusion between practicality and aesthetics. Beautiful, modern and timeless. They are made to last, and develop their own unique patina and character over time. Easy to use and wear, they will accompany you for years to come.
LILU’S VALUES
Craftsmanship, savoir-faire and made in Belgium are the core values of Lilu. Producing in small quantities, all of our bags are handmade by meticulous and passionate craftsmen. They are made to last. Our hope is that they’ll be passed on from generation to generation, epitomising the values of slow fashion.
Lilu continue to strive towards better environmental standards. Reducing its carbon footprint, by only producing bags in their Brussels atelier. And by working exclusively with tanneries which strictly adhere to European regulations, that relate in particular to the use of chemicals within the dyeing process and which favour the use of the most environmentally friendly materials.
HOW AND WHERE ARE LILU BAGS MADE?
Ixelles, Brussels in our atelier-boutique is where our bags are born. There, high-quality cowhide leather skins from carefully sourced European tanneries (France, Italy, Germany for the most part) are prototyped, designed and produced into bags and accessories by our artisans.
Bags are available at our boutique or through select retailers across Belgium. We also offer a “made to measure” service (in this case, allow six to eight weeks for production. You choose the model, leather, colour, even the number of pockets …
WHO’S BEHIND LILU?
Since childhood, Emmanuelle Adam, a graduate in law and management, has been guided by her passions. LILU is a dedication to craftsmanship, art and leather goods … which, in 2005, led to the creation of Lilu. “I was keen to work with the raw material, by hand; and to produce here, in Belgium, quality bags and accessories, both beautiful and practical, which would be sustainable. ” Bags conceived by her but also by you…
Smiling, intuitive, attentive, you’ll find Emmanuelle spends most of her time in her boutique-atelier, where she is always happy to advise and guide you to the bag that best suits you.
9, Rue du Bailli Brussels 1000 Belgium
Ellen Verbeek
Ellen VerbeekMore Info
Story:
ellen verbeek started her brand in 2000, passionated about shoes she went to Italy to the shoe area and got in touch with an artisanal factory, managed by older but very experienced craftsmen who could realise her architectural ideas on shoes.
Shoes are our connection with the earth, the foundation of a human body ! To combine these vulnerable elements with beauty gives a lot of happyness to people. Being stable in your shoes gives already a more secure feeling to people !
Her designs have a strong and recognisable image.
Using architecture and furniture shapes as a base of inspiration was a very interesting horizon to transform this on shoes.
She maintained her line underground, as not willing to transform the collection into a mass product.
The combination of natural materials, original heels in wood and elegant details melts into a strong image. She tries to combine rough and natural elements with feminine details and likes to play with this contrast.
Some heels are sculpted out of wood by hand, thus resulting in beautiful arc shapes which run down to the sole.
Playful and feminine are the keywords characterizing the collection.
With the collection ‘ellen verbeek’ we deliver exclusive quality shoes, advanced design in durable materials and quality workmanship.
Blokstraat 73 Schiplaken 3191 Belgium
Odette Lunettes
Odette LunettesMeir 85 Antwerp 2000 Belgium
Ine Vacquier
Ine VacquierKlaverstraat 1 Ingelmunster 8770 Belgium