My name is Cailean (pronounced Kallan) Boch Murphy, I am 27 years old and I am originally from Edinburgh, born to a Scottish Dad and French Mother. The French side of my family, which is a relatively well known name in France, were very entrepreneurial and were passionate about fashion / textiles. The Boch family has been embedded in Montpellier for a century dating back to my Great Grandfather who owned Maison Justin Boch. There is a protected building and sign in Montpellier which still carries the name. My Gran and Grandad both owned stores in Montpellier in the prime real estate location of La Grande Rue (which is now an Orange phone shop) and Rue du Foch. My Gran had a shop selling high end luxury shoes and my grandad ran a store selling high end bags, suitcases and clothing accessories. Longchamp and Lancel were there signature brands of which I was told the shop had a big influence in getting them on the market as they were very new at the time. My grandmother who was incredibly entrepreneurial was on the Board of Directors and President of the Union of Women decorated with the Legion of Honor (she was an amazing feminist ambassador) she also received Honorary Citizen of the City of Montpellier, and was also former elected representative of the Montpellier Chamber of Commerce and Industry for her commitment to serving the people of Montpellier. Unfortunately my grandmother passed away over Christmas which is what has lead me to pursue this as I am essentially the last in the line of Boch’s considering it is now only my middle name and may be lost further when I eventually have kids one day. This lead my to the brand name Maison Boch which I believe is really true to the heritage of my family and I hope I can continue the legacy of the Boch’s.
I now live in London and I work 3 days a week as an engineering consultant and I am an avid trader in the financial markets of which I hope to quit my job in engineering and pursue full time whilst also working on this business. Needless to say I have zero experience in fashion but due to the trading/investing, I have an entrepreneurial mindset. Although I have zero experience in the fashion industry I feel I have a keen eye for fashion of which I have been complimented on which I never really took onboard as potentially a business idea. Now with my grandmother passing away it's like how did I not notice this before.
I noticed that there isn’t actually a huge amount of semi-luxurious brands of relatively minimalist designer clothes for men that is of the utmost quality but as reasonably priced as possible. I guess potentially the market that I want to try and enter price wise is something like Scotch and Soda and potentially Hugo Boss is the closest I have seen in that sort of price range.
In terms of the design/brand itself I want it to be as simple, elegant, minimalist as possible that will fetch compliments. It is almost like a Rolex datejust of clothing brands, elegant but sporty, flash but not too flash and good value for the quality, heritage and craftsmanship associated. But the main overriding aspect HAS to be quality and craftsmanship, the quality has to be flawless and it has to last a long time, so it is essentially an investment piece for people. Coming from an engineering design background where I have seen some incredibly impressive factories I have seen a glimpse of what I would like the manufacturer to adopt, great facilities, rigorous quality assurance and strong systems and processes in place. I am fine with the products being considered somewhat expensive (although we are so used to purchasing things from china at ludicrously cheap prices which never lasts) as long as the quality is there and it can be justified. I would also prefer if it was made here in the UK, with France or Italy as another alternative (Brexit dependant of course).
I think maybe it would be worth us booking a couple of hours together to run through the business further, and build up a sort of plan and costs associated with the project to see if off the bat I need to source more capital?
