French-American Leret Leret is the Celebrity Favorite Cashmere Brand to Watch
Edouard and Andrea Leret's cashmere brand was only six months old when the coronavirus pandemic hit New York City. “This was bigger than our brand,” Edouard tells L’OFFICIEL. “And as New Yorkers we wanted to help other New Yorkers.”
Leret Leret partnered with the New York charity God’s Love We Deliver, which provides meals to New Yorkers who are unable to shop or cook for themselves–an especially critical service as the city dealt with the brunt of the America's initial COVID-19 cases. The brand donated 25 percent of sales to the organization and funded over 8,000 meals, generating support from celebrities like Nicky Hilton, Brooklyn Beckham, and Caroline Vreeland. “The whole path has been very organic,” Edouard says. "We’ve never paid anybody for wearing or posting our sweaters. We never have and I think we never will."
Born in Paris and raised in Venezuela, Edouard and Andrea began working on Leret Leret in 2018 after Edouard was connected with manufacturers in Mongolia while working in Shanghai. The siblings–who both have backgrounds in fashion–saw potential in knitting graphics into relaxed unisex cashmere crewnecks for a modern take on the usually-stuffy knitwear staple. Though most cashmere is sourced from Mongolia, it is typically manufactured elsewhere, and the duo opted to team up with a single Mongolian producer to streamline the process. “We thought that we could support the whole chain, from the nomadic herder to the finished product,” says Edouard.
Instead of following a traditional fashion calendar, Leret Leret releases "editions" in limited quantities, and numbers its designs rather than naming them, with the intention of allowing customers to interpret the graphics however they like. “Sweater number one, which has clouds, is inspired by our trip together to Mongolia and the Mongolian sky,” Edouard says. “We’ve had people ask, ‘Oh, is that a The Simpsons sweater?’ So it’s funny to hear everyone’s interpretations.”
Ultimately, the Lerets want to use their brand to connect with others. “The idea is to build a community of people and artists so that once or twice a year we can all come together," says Edouard. “Connecting with people may be the part we enjoy the most about this project." The siblings recently tapped artist Angelica Hicks for an “artist intervention,” in which the brand gave Hicks carte blanche to design a crewneck. Edouard hopes this is the first collaboration of many. "Leret Leret has given us a platform to create anything with anybody," he says.
