Molli in Milk Magazine

Knitwear according to Molli

Molli, a women and babies’s knitwear brand, just celebrated its 130th anniversary. A meeting with Charlotte de Fayet, the company’s creative director.

What was your career path before Molli?

Classic: business school with a specialization in marketing. During the first few years, I developed a project in Buenos Aires in social entrepreneurship applied to art, supporting an association that reintegrated children from difficult neighbourhoods through photography. When I returned, I joined L'Oréal, in charge of Kiehl's and Shu Emura. I learned how important the motto"retail is detail" was.

What attracted you to the Molli brand?

After having been nurtured by Molli’s world since my childhood, the birth of my second child in 2015 gave me the incentive to rise to the challenge and take over this brand whose knitwear skills have been appreciated for generations. Thus reawakening this sleeping beauty by writing a new chapter in its history became my fabulous destiny…

What was your approach to this acquisition?

Molli was born at the end of the 19th century, a time when knitwear was booming. In 1950 the brand veered into lingerie since that sector was undergoing changes with the appearance of acrylic. Molli also created its first wool layette sets.

Today, besides the iconic 0-12 month baby line, I have developed a women’s knit wardrobe made up of essential, pure-lined pieces with a radically contemporary elegance.

In the past, Molli was known for its use of the best-quality materials. Is this still the case?

Absolutely. We work essentially with pure virgin wool in contrast with the standard wool taken from sheep raised for their meat. The wool is spun, combed and dyed in Italy as is the Egyptian cotton we use for our summer models.

How do you imagine Molli’s future?

Molli exists in today’s incredibly competitive world of fashion where garments become rapidly obsolete. We wanted to preserve our offer by capitalizing on a timeless positioning with items that will last. Thus our idea is to create a restricted niche brand for people “in the know”. Our mid-range plans include opening ten Molli boutiques around the world as settings for our novelty pieces.

As told to Ingrid Bauer.