Zeppelin Retail Director Mathieu Mudie Elevates Shopping Scene

شنبه 10 شهريور 1397
7:05
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Good craftsmanship is the foundation of any quality product. Mathieu Mudie, an artisan craftsman, knows that from his own work, and he keeps it in mind as he oversees the retail projects for Zeppelin Development. After being tapped for that job, Mudie moved to Denver from Montreal earlier this year. His first project was establishing the Made in a City rotating retail experience at Zeppelin Station, a series of three-month pop-up stores; he also curated the artisan retailers in the Source Hotel and Market Hall, which just opened next to the Source.

As RiNo gets ready for a crush of business from Crush Walls, we spoke with the man responsible for filling these cool new retail spaces.

Mathieu Mudie: I didn't start with retail, actually. From a brand perspective, I got into retail at the end of the cycle. My partner, Rachel Fortin, and I created different brands. We were making everything in-house and then we went wholesale t shirts. Before that, we used to do the whole craft circuit and travel across the U.S. and Canada making our own bags; we used to do leather bags and wallets, and purses with leather, mostly, so that's how it started. In Montreal we started opening the retail spaces. First one, and then a second one, which was doing very well. It was around 5,000 square feet; it was kind of our flagship store. Our brand was the main focus, but we carried other brands, things by our friends or just things we loved. We did accessories and we carried apparel for men and women, and objects, all kinds of stuff....

I met Zeppelin in Montreal and there was a strong connection to see what they were doing and what their vision was. They really liked what we were doing and our store, so they approached me to do a store here. ... I was lucky that Zeppelin offered to have me oversee their retail and projects. I thought it would be a perfect fit for me after Montreal. I came here to visit and see everything and meet with them in January, and then two weeks later, I moved here and started working on projects.

Retail is the part that I really like. Everything is done under the Eyes Open umbrella. We are going to slowly introduce new products from Eyes Open in a multi-brand retail space. We'll start back up with bags and more stuff, so pretty soon there will be Eyes Open collections. We are doing it a little backwards here, creating the brand first and the retail after, but that is just because that's how things came along here.

In Montreal, my partner was a fashion designer. She would manage the production side and I would manage more the retail side that was not actual products. She would do product development. It was natural for me to come here and do that, because it allows me to work with all these brands that I like. I like things that are well made. I like cool designs. I like people. I have been around makers my whole life, in the crafts circuit and working with all those designers. So this is a good opportunity to go and meet these amazing people and work with them to create spaces that are up to the standard of what they are making.

What was the name of your brand in Montreal?

I had lots of them, but Lowell was one....It was inspired by the French and Canadian history in my family and Jack Kerouac, who was actually from Lowell [Massachussetts] as well. That was sort of the inspiration behind that brand.

I know that the first city in the Made in a City series was Montreal. How do you go about picking the cities?

Montreal was easy, in the sense that I am from there and I knew a lot of people from there. First I wanted a wide variety of products and brands. ... It was the first time we were experimenting with something like that, so I wanted to try new things. I think the idea is to have a lifestyle or a concept with more than one product, but they work well together. So someone can come here and buy ceramics, a T-shirt and stationery, but it all works together. A lot of them were my friends, and they do cool stuff, so I brought them here.

For one week, the Crush Walls festival is taking over the three bays, and then we are launching Portland. A few weeks ago I spent a week in Portland on a scouting trip, and I had a lot of meetings, and I just went from workshop to workshop. ... They have a really strong makers community. Discovering a city through its makers is amazing. I don't want to reveal everything yet, but we have an amazing lineup for Portland; we have some more established international brands, as well as more up-and-coming and edgy designers. We have a lot of different categories. I think Portland will be amazing.

We will launch that in mid-September, and have a launch party with a band from Portland and a bar takeover from Portland. The Portland one will go until the end of December, throughout the holidays. Right after that, I am doing Mexico City for January, February and March. I am going on a scouting trip in October to Mexico City. So I am very excited. After that, I want to do Iceland. So again, it is all retail and all makers, and it is just a great way for people to really see the best a city has.

With Eyes Open and at the Source Hotel, it is more permanent. We work with the brands in ways to create and have them on a more permanent basis. I think retail is hard now, and you need to be creative to have people come into retail spaces instead of ordering online. I think online is great, but we all need something more than that. We need that connection to people and to see stuff and touch stuff. What we carry is not fast-fashion. It is very well-made products that you have to see and touch to see the difference. I think people still want that, and want to interact with great spaces.

Like the space here at Zeppelin Station, where you have bars, restaurants, retail; you can just hang out. The hotel is the same way, and it just creates a whole experience. In the hotel we are working with Vinyl Me, Please, so we have a listening station for people, we have the whole retail counter and kiosk with two turntables. You can drink and shop. I still think people are looking to have that interaction. Online is cool and it's practical, but we are trying to do something else. I think you have to be creative and bring cool brands and cool concepts here, just bring more options for people and make it as risk-less as possible, by showing the people of Denver what Denver can be and also making them want to go dropshipping suppliers.


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