Concept Stores and select shops
The Vétra brand has chosen, since the 90s, a very selective distribution in cutting-edge shops.
These shops are now called “select shops” or even “concept stores”.
In the 90s, especially in Japan, these shops pioneered the concept of quality-oriented products & "heritage" brands selection. Thanks to its authenticity, its quality in the making and durable garments, Vétra has been selected by the forerunner shops of the concept.
Through elaborate and coherent product categories where each brand finds its own place and complements each other, the concept-stores / select-shops have found their patrons : lovers of beautiful & meaningful products with a real story behind each of them.
These shops still match perfectly the values of Vétra : a long-term oriented distribution, focused on customer relationship rather than a mass distribution and fast-fashion friendly customers.
VETRA is, and will remain, a family brand retailed through independent & family-owned or human-sized shops sharing the same passion for selling our clothes, as the one we have for manufacturing them for almost 100 years.
The oldest reseller !
The Boutique A L'OUVRIER, founded in 1905 in Paris, specializing in quality workwear, retailed the VETRA brand (founded in Paris in 1927) right off the bat, in the 1930s!
Still active, the shop is now the brand's oldest retailer !
It keeps perpetuating its more than a century-ear-old venture at a new address in "Le Marais": A L'O 1905 - PARIS at 92 rue de Turenne.
The store offers a keen selection of heritage brands all mastering different kinds of iconic workwear.
Here is the store story:
Henri Honnet, a store clerk, decided in 1905 to launch his own shop.
Good connoisseur of the Parisian market with a can-do spirit, he set up in a strategic building on Boulevard de la Villette, a working-class district: just opposite the newly created aerial metro (line 2). His choice gave him exceptional visibility very quickly, increased thanks to a large sign visible from the aerial metro and opposite the exit of the metro station, & advertisement on the back of many postcards.
From the very beginning, it retailed top-notch workwear brands, particularly Vétra, founded in 1927 in Paris, and Danton, founded in 1931.
A l'Ouvrier also supplied tailored made products. The production is made in the shop with a small sewing machine and some special operations have to be hand-made, such as buttonholes. Some Parisian institutions have bought for decades from the renowned shop.
His daughter, a seamstress, married her father's employee and togther they ran the store from the 1930s to the 1960s, then passed the baton to their daughter.
In the 1990s, the urban planning department of Paris city hall decided to reshape the entire Villette district. In 1991 it stated that the building where the shop is located will be destroyed to open an avenue the next year.
The shop first moved in 1992 to the 2nd arrondissement before moving finally in 2022 to the Marais, a famous district of the 3rd arrondissement.
A true piece of Parisian history, an historic boutique offering authentic heritage brands, here is a must-go place of your tour in Paris!
Find all the informations on: www.alo.paris
The oldest VETRA reseller in Paris : A L'O - 1905 - PARIS, 92 rue de Turenne, 75003 PARIS.
