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REVIVE A VINTAGE BRAND
Times change, and companies can become outdated. Fashion is fickle. Brands can become dated and disappear from the scene, only to be rediscovered by a new generation who think they are amazingly cool. Reviving a long lost brand can be the start of a new business.
The idea In France, the Sajou brand was given the kiss of life by an obsessive collector of vintage haberdashery, Frédérique Crestin-Billet. After paying a considerable sum for an old Sajou catalogue, she asked herself what had been so special about the defunct company and started delving into their history. She discovered that the brand name was available, registered it and opened the first Sajou website in 2005 selling Sajou branded embroidery scissors and postcards featuring some of their original designs. Madame Crestin-Billet used the huge collection of Sajou archive material to create a new company, which retained the spirit of the original brand idea. She also searched for French manufacturers in order to keep her products as authentic as possible, despite the attraction of financial savings to be gained by having them made in China. The company was immediately successful. It captured a large market in Japan, where the consumers were enamoured with the individuality of the brand. The ornate belle époque designs, which
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