Left school at 16. No college degree. Just an internet connection and a passion for fashion (mhm, yeah that rhymed). This is the 9-figure story of Morgane Sézalory and her fashion brand Sézane…
Living in the heart of Paris right off of Rue de Bac, Morgane began collecting high-end vintage pieces of clothing which she would then sell on eBay. Très chic.
Clothes were Morgane’s calling, collecting 100 pieces each month, running 12 drops per year, the product sold out time and time again.
Morgane would host weekly “rendezvous” with her community that slowly grew in size as her eBay vintage clothes business grew in notoriety.
But after a few years of being scrappy on eBay, buying and reselling, Morgane pivoted. As the best always do.
She had built a large enough audience of high intent consumers that her 100 piece drops once per month were no longer fueling growth and scarcity.
Instead these drops were limiting the future potential of the business.
So Morgane launched the 1st online Paris fashion brand with her own online shop called Sézane. THE VERY 1st. Not 2nd. Not 3rd. 1st!!
This was 2013, okay? DTC was a baby, no one knew what it would become, and Morgane was on the cutting edge of it. I for 1 was a freshman in college majoring in Religious Studies at the time. A different era, if you will.
Her genius didn’t just come from being ahead of the tech curve. The main reason for her continued success comes from the niche of WARMTH that she has built in the fashion industry.
Typically driven by FOMO, unattainable luxury, and trying to get the next it-piece, the upscale fashion industry (particularly of the French variety) does NOT have a history of being a place that welcomes its customers with open arms. Sézane flips this entirely on its head.
Another thing that sets Sézane apart from its contemporaries? Morgane wanted to create clothes for REAL LIFE. Not the red carpet, not to impress at whatever business meeting you have, but clothes that make you look and feel great when you’re on the train, getting produce at the supermarket, or picking the kids up at school. Clothes built for LIFE.
Every single touchpoint consumers have with the brand reinforces this. Magnifique. 🤌 🤌
(See a snippet from their site below.)
They call their stores apartments, and they’re decorated like the warm, chic Parisian apartment you’d entirely expect a woman wearing a Sézane blouse to go home to.
The brand is warm. The messaging is clear. Sézane isn’t about the marketing and that in and of itself IS THE MARKETING.
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Will you catch Sézane running TV ads? No. Will you catch Sézane hosting pop-ups (she’s continuing the rendezvous tradition!) in the quiet neighborhoods of your favorite cities? Yes (COMMUNITY). Will you catch Sézane unloading budget on an influencer collab with Kate Middleton? No. But, you’ll catch Kate rocking Sézane earrings nonetheless.
Beautiful move from the Princess of Wales – she looks fabulous in them.
As the business has scaled, Sézane has never lost that intimate feeling they had when Morgane started reselling vintage clothes on eBay. Even though their revenue has reportedly crossed $100M/year, the brand still feels undiscovered. Special. FRENCH. In the nice way (I’m sorry, but you understand).
And I know marketers love to talk about differentiation all the time. Big ideas, wild campaigns, AI, you name it.
But in your industry, differentiation might be something as simple as investing that extra time and energy into your customers because no one else is doing it.
Sézane is kind in the cold, cold fashion industry.
P.S. I hope Daniel’s reading this I REALLY WANT THIS SHIRT. You can embroider it. SO cool. Me likey. A LOT. Carly was gifted it. Daniel, PLEASE!! Carly has it and I don’t HELP ME.
Anyways Sézane? LOVE this brand. Ce n’est que le début.
(I could pretend that Duo Lingo taught me that seeing as I’m 200 days in but NOT A CHANCE)…