Today we’d like to introduce you to Lyn Baskett
Lyn, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I’ve been in the fashion industry all my life! I have launched various brands, reworked brands, managed teams for brands etc. I took on Mauritius as one of my brands in 2016. They were a 45 year old company that made sustainable leather jackets and had grown to become the largest leather jacket company in Europe. I loved their story, so I brought them to the USA and Canada. I hired reps, developed showrooms, created a marketing strategy, built a distribution strategy and hired and trained a home-office team to support the business. Our office team works remotely from home, allowing them to achieve a successful work-life balance. I select from each of the German collections to build the line for the USA, I also work with the German design team to create exclusive product for the US market.
The line is all vegetable tanned, meaning it is sustainably produced and transparently sourced to ensure no animals were sacrificed to make a leather jacket. We work only with BSCI certified suppliers to ensure ethically production, we are members of LWG – the leather working group – to ensure that the standards are enforced at the highest possible level. We ensure zero waste by donating scraps, swatches and damages to Indigenous Groups to repurpose.
We have gone from 0 business in 2016 to selling 2000 independent boutiques across North America, and are also selling major retailers like The Buckle, Sundance and Free People and we aren’t done yet. We are bringing fashion leather jackets to the masses with pricing which is unheard of for our quality. All due to the power of the German design team and the team I have built here!
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Not sure if there is such a thing as a smooth road when starting a company. Our initial struggles were in educating people that we are fashion jackets, not outerwear and that we are sustainably produced. We continue with these struggles but have been winning people over along the way. WE had to look like a big company before we were, people needed to have faith in a new concept like ours, so we hired a professional 3PL, developed corporate showrooms and professional showbooths for tradeshows – all in a quest to ‘fake it until you make it’.
Covid hit just as we were starting to make headway. I refused to lay off anyone. I believe if a company can be profitable in good times, then the people who made that happen should be taken care of in bad times. We pivoted to find the stores who were adapting best and partnered with them to grow the business. We went after new customers aggressively, we arranged trunkshows and special arrangements with key retailers to convince them to partner with us. We took things back, we canceled orders where nec and we pushed the strong retailers.
Covid seemed to end in 2022 and we had a banner year, until the economy realized it was still dealing with the effects of the pandemic and we ended up with too much inventory, which we are still working our way out of. Its been quite a rollercoaster ride, but I wouldn’t do anything differently!
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I have always had a gut feeling about what product will sell. I started with record stores more than 40 years ago and developed a chain of record stores which were very successful. Leaving there, I turned to the fashion world and dressed windows, merchandised stores, taught fashion at college, developed a retail and wholesale business for a German brand, launched a new line called Moon for the original founders of Club Monaco, spent time with Canadian and US brands developing product, creating marketing strategies and driving fashion businesses.
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
I believe in lifelong learning. We learn from our mistakes as well as our successes. You cannot be afraid to make a mistake. Do your homework, make educated guesses but don’t sit back. Talk to people, don’t prejudge what you can learn because you can learn from many more people than you think. One mentor is great if you can find the right one for you, but chances are you will need to learn from many peoples experiences to help get to the next step
Pricing:
- Our sustainable made lambskin fashion jackets start at $248, unbelievable pricing for this quality and style
Contact Info:
- Website: https://mauritiusleather.com
- Instagram: mauritius.leather
- Facebook: mauritius.leather
