It's customary to take stock of the past year at the beginning of each new year. Continuing with 2019 and for the sake of transparency, we'll be no exception today by taking stock of 2020 at Ludis.
It was, of course, a very unusual year for us and for everyone else. It was certainly complicated, but there were also positives to be learned from this experience. Take some time to settle in, and here's the retrospective:
January - March, a fanfare start
After an encouraging first summer with the release of our first product: the men's playsuit with its innovative crotch closure system, the good news is coming thick and fast at the start of 2020.
At the end of January, the project took a more concrete form as we created the Ludis company (SARL). In addition, we surrounded ourselves with valuable partners who will support us in the development of the brand. Despite the difficult year we have experienced, they continue to support us, and we take this opportunity to thank them sincerely.
Among these partners is the BGE Franche-Comté and its business incubator in Besançon, where our office has been located since February. We haven't had the chance to inaugurate it with you yet due to health measures, but we are hopeful of doing so in 2021. In the meantime, the office remains open, and you can visit us every day of the week. 🙂
It is therefore in this brand new office that we are gradually completing the process of creating our new collection of men's playsuits, but above all, our first collection of women's playsuits: the big new product for 2020.
March - June, navigating troubled waters
In March, our development came to a sudden halt, along with the entire country. Our partner workshop, Fil Rouge, was forced to close its doors just as we were ready to begin manufacturing our collections.
Like all young brands that launched this year, we're wondering where this will lead us and whether the consequences will be too severe for Ludis. We need to adapt to this situation and try to anticipate what will happen as best we can in order to continue moving forward despite it.
We've already written an article chronicling our experiences during this health crisis, as well as another article on the lessons we've learned. We invite you to read them to learn more, as the idea today is to focus on the areas we haven't been able to control this year, and a global pandemic is obviously not one of them.
We will know much later in the year whether the impact of the lockdown on us will have been a delayed release of our new collections.
June - September, a slight respite
While we took advantage of the lockdown to completely rebuild our website and fine-tune our strategy to prepare for the summer, the government has given the green light for a return to more or less normal daily life.
So we're behind schedule in producing our new collections, but we're ready to kick off the summer with the remaining stock from our first collection (hoping the new ones arrive as soon as possible). It's been a successful summer, even if we have to qualify that.
While we felt the excitement was at its peak, we were unable to meet expectations because the little stock we had left disappeared extremely quickly, which was frustrating. This enthusiasm (but also this frustration) was particularly evident during our visit to the Artyrie ephemeral Pop-Up Store in Paris in June and during the inauguration of our reseller in Marseille, the Concept-Store Métamorphose.
During this time, we also launched a crowdfunding campaign on Tudigo to allow you to pre-order models from our first women's collection. The campaign was a success, but unfortunately, we were behind schedule. We did our best to minimize our production delays and offered refunds to anyone who found the wait too long. Ultimately, we were surprised to see that many of you continued to trust us, despite our young age.
We thank you for your immense and precious support which gives us the strength every day to do better so as not to disappoint you again.
September - December, the end of the tunnel
The new collections haven't arrived as quickly as expected, and this has unfortunately hampered our summer. However, we remain optimistic and continue to work to ensure the brand's development continues as smoothly as possible.
At the end of October, the team is expanding with Alice, a Patternmaking student, joining us. Alice arrives with the mission of supporting us in the creation of new products and new collections, always with the same goal: to offer you new clothes that meet your expectations. Stay tuned for Ludis news because it should interest you. 😉
At the end of November, our playsuits will be available at the Etyka boutique in Nantes, which has just opened its doors. We invite you to visit Nicolas and Luc, the two designers. Another great piece of news for December is our presence at two pop-up events in Paris, and when we think back to the success of the first, we're delighted to be part of them.
Unfortunately, following the new government measures that have closed non-essential stores, we have decided to cancel our participation as the situation has become too unclear. This is very regrettable because the Christmas period will not allow us to achieve the objectives we had set for ourselves.
In the end
What we take away from 2020 is that in an entrepreneurial project like ours, we must demonstrate resilience and know how to adapt as best we can when a situation demands it. However, this is no reason to turn a blind eye to the things we can control and improve.
Here is a short list of the lessons we have learned from this very special year:
From these lessons we can draw up a list of actions that we will have to carry out this year:
- Participate in more physical events in 2021 (subject to the health crisis) to let even more people try our concept.
- Continue to offer this same level of quality for all our future products and our future collections.
- Continue our eco-responsible approach and move from the OEKO-TEX label to the GOTS label, which offers even greater traceability in our supply chain.
- Develop a winter-ready product to break free from this summer dependency. A product that meets our criteria as well as your requirements.
- Improve our digital strategy and offer the best possible experience to people new to Ludis, both on our website and on social media.
- Manage our stock more accurately and evolve our economic model towards pre-orders, which will allow us to precisely quantify our needs to avoid stock shortages or overproduction.
The final word
2020 was a challenging year, but embarking on a new year has never been more motivating. From our offices in Besançon and our manufacturing workshop in Marseille, the desire to do better and give meaning to our sector is at the heart of every project and every profession. To bring together fashion, responsibility, and originality.
Glad to see that we are moving forward with your continued support, we wish you all the best for this new year 2021. May it be one of innovation and action to transform our daily lives.
See you soon
Mathias & Lucas 🐍