On the 4th of April, 2017, the Fashion Studies Masters’ students went on a class visit to the offices of Le New Black in Paris for the Fashion Cultures Seminar. The students met and discussed with Vidya Narine about her co-founding the company in 2009 alongside Bernard Coulombel.
Inside the Le New Black Offices in the Marais.
Le New Black is a B2B (Business to Business) e-commerce platform for fashion brands and retailers. As the class asked Vidya Narine questions about the business she founded Narine answered them thoughtfully and informatively.
Vidya Narine started the discussion by sharing how the Le New Black became the customer-based online platform that currently runs today. Before Le New Black, Narine explained that during her visits to trade shows and showrooms she noticed how much waste companies were producing in terms of paper and print usage and air conditioning. As she envisioned a change to help the quality of the environment, the quality of human relations, design and product were also at the forefront of thought when inventing her company. As Le New Black digitized the communication between retailers and brands it became an innovative platform for international businesses to connect around the world 24/7. While describing the company, she noted Le New Black has a yearly subscription for business and different packages for each business depending on the company’s needs. Narine also noted that Le New Black does not take a commission on sales because Le New Black is there to connect. Being in Paris, the city of global fashion naturally allows Le New Black to emerge into the global, high-end fashion industry.
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Written by Sarah Safar, MA Fashion Studies, 2016 – 2018.
Picture by Sarah Safar, MA Fashion Studies, 2016 – 2018.
