French brand Jamin Puech made a comeback at Premiere Classe

We caught up with Liva Ramanandraibe, owner, designer and heartfelt ambassador.

What does it take to reignite the flame, and bring creation back to life in a challenging business context? Liva Ramanandraibe, the new owner of French brand Jamin Puech, says it’s about having faith in your own identity, which he almost sees as a remedy for conformism, ultra-fast fashion and worn-out models. And the prescriber is none other than himself, owner, self-taught designer and fearless ambassador of a new journey he describes as “poetic”. And it starts here, at Premiere Classe, the very place where Jamin Puech took its first steps some 35 years ago.

What lead you to acquire Jamin Puech, and where do you intend to take the brand?

I’ve always had great respect for this house which I consider to be a piece of the French creative heritage. It has always sailed on its own path and maintained a strong originality, with a niche customer base and a positioning that I would qualify as poetic. This uniqueness is almost an activism that counters the increasing presence of ultra-fast fashion. So when I learned that the brand was about to disappear, I had to do something.


How do you intend to maintain the brand’s strong, creative identity, while responding to commercial challenges?

It is indeed a challenge, because legacy can be heavy. I share the clients’ affection for the founders of the brand, for whom I have great respect, but I’m also here to take it into the future. You have to know your products and be aware of the customers’ expectations, answer the challenges of the times and make the brand competitive within its category. It’s about making Jamin Puech contemporary, without compromising on its creative identity.

So attending Premiere Classe is also a way of sending the message that Jamin Puech is back at the heart of Fashion? 

It is. Premiere Classe is the place where the brand’s journey started when it was founded, so my approach is almost that of a historian. Our presence here is both a symbol and a poetic journey back to the brand’s roots, it’s also a step back to envision its future. We are here to establish some partnerships, to see the market’s reactions and to create a customer experience as authentic as it can be. 


Are you here with a precise strategy in mind?

Above all I’m here to send a signal, to say that the jewel is still shining and to show my ambition of turning it into one of the most beautiful French houses. It’s ambitious, but we are not a commercial brand. We are a true gem whose uniqueness must be appreciated, without making any concession on the quality of distribution.


It is also why we are here. Premiere Classe has an extremely high quality audience that can’t be found anywhere else. It also has this caring family spirit that I’m happy to be discovering and that I appreciate a lot. And all this in the Tuileries garden! It’s just fabulous.

Talking about family, if you had to do a collab with another Premiere Classe brand, which one would it be? 

I’d say Domestique, whose booth faces mine. It’s a young and dynamic French brand that shares our values. Our universes are different but can complement each other in an interesting way. The world is changing at such a rapid pace, we need to be united.  

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