Interview of Cécile Negrier, founder of Filalto
Could you introduce yourself quickly : home town, actual town, job...
I am Parisian but I have been living in Bordeaux for seven years with my family. I created Filalto two years ago. Filalto is a brand of high quality sweaters and accessories in 100% alpaca and 100% baby alpaca for both women and men.
What was your path before creating Filalto ?
I worked about 15 years in advertising in Paris and abroad, then in Bordeaux I changed my path to take the direction of the Petrusse store, a luxurious brand specialized in shawls and scarves made in cashmere, silk and wool.
Since my childhood, I have loved to warm me up with big cozy sweaters or shawls; I am sensitive to the cold. So I developed a taste for warm and soft knitwear.
I took courses of fashion drawings and little by little I designed my own pieces and found my style.
When and how did you discover the alpaca wool ?
I discovered the alpaca wool during my trips to Bolivia and Peru. This wool is a nature’s treasure. It comes from this cute camelid : the alpaca. The alpaca lives at 4000 meters high and to protect itself from the cold, the alpaca develops a quite warm wool, very soft which has additionally a great longevity.
What made you decide to create Filalto ?
What made me decide was the desire to share my passion for this exceptional wool and the pleasure to wear alpaca clothes with a modern design. Indeed there are local creations in Peru or Bolivia but they are not adapted to the European style.
Where does your brand name “Filalto” come from ?
ALTO in Spanish means “elevated” which fits well the place from where the wool comes from : the high Andean plateaus (Altiplano).
The other meaning is “noble”, a good descriptive of this exceptional yarn which is alpaca.
FILALTO : the noble yarn of the high plateaus.
What enchants you the most with the alpaca wool ? Why this passion for Bolivia ?
What enchants me : the quality of the material of course but also the handmade and traditional methods used for every piece created. Also, the production in very small series.
In Bolivia I found craftsmen working on small knitting machines, activated by hand, and also paying attention to the quality of every piece. There are also entirely handmade knitted pieces made by Bolivian women working in groups.
Bolivia is a country that fascinates me. It is quite a country apart. Incidentally, few airline companies land in La Paz. It is a county that is developing slowly and which has maintained his traditions and that was barely influenced by the Western culture. I love to wander in La Paz or Cochabamba and walk across these women in traditional clothes : the cholitas. An overlapping of half-slips, a black bowler hat and a stripped colorful shawl which help them to carry all sorts of things on their back when they knot the corners. So unusual and unique.
La Paz is also a city where the sun always shines. The temperature in the morning can be at 5°C but at noon it can climb to 25°C and the sky will be blue all day without clouds. Bolivia is also a country with a very diversified country and climate and some other towns than La Paz deserve to be seen.
What pleases you the most today in your adventure and your function ?
I am only at the beginning of my adventure and what pleases me particularly is the creation of unique products. The variety of the role of an entrepreneur is also very interesting and of course the contact with Bolivia.