Gaspard is a fresh young dude from Dunkirk
Freshly landed in Dunkirk, Gaspard has high ambitions on a par with its success. After having gathered a few euros via a crowdfunding campaign last year, the project’s two initiators, Mehdi Bilski and Morgan Pavaut, leapt into the deep end of the prêt-à-porter world.
First of all, can you tell us a little about your shop, Gaspard?
You’re in the very heart of the bachelor pad of this town’s “freshest dudes”, whether they be more street or chic. But not only that, as the shop also hosts the production workshop of the Malo Les Bains t-shirts, inspired by the seaside resort!
Who is Gaspard?
Gaspard is a cool dude!
How was your shop welcomed in Dunkirk?
Rather well! The young and not so young people of Dunkirk were really waiting for this kind of shop to open in their town. For example, there hadn’t been a Carhartt distributor in Dunkirk for a few years, so it was really hard to find cool brands unless you went shopping in Lille.
Your brand Malo-les-Bains pays homage to the town and seaside resort. How did you come up with that idea?
That was a long time ago! Five years ago, there was a kite surf competition on our beautiful beach and we came up with the idea of creating a Malo-les-Bains t-shirt to support our young kite-surfers. A few days later, the orders were coming in from everywhere, from people that had nothing to do with the water sport world. We therefore decided to distribute the products in Size, Mehdi’s sneaker shop.
Your main idea was to develop a clientele in the town, who were used to shop in Lille or Brussels. Did you succeed?
Yes, because we even manage to get back our young clientele from Dunkirk who study in Lille. They now prefer Gaspard to the shops Lille has to offer and do their shopping at the weekend when they come home.
Apart from Olow of course, what can we find at Gaspard?
Loads of cool brands you often can’t even find in Lille or Brussels. We have three big brand worlds, the seaside ones with Loreak Mendian and Bask in the Sun from the Basque country, and Olow of course. The Scandinavian ones with Suit and Rains for example. And finally, the urban ones with Carhartt, Obey and On Tour.
Rap, house, exotic sounds… You know how to get your groove on here! You recently organized an “Electro Swing” party, with two other shops, ItCoffee and Made Concept Store. What was the concept of your party?
It’s a party we’ve been organizing for a few years now, so we wanted to try again with Gaspard and our new neighbors. The Electro Swing cruise is a retro party on a tourist boat that goes around the port of Dunkirk. The retro chic vibe goes hand in hand with Gaspard!
One last question: where’s the ideal spot to party near the Dunkirk lighthouse?
At Gaspard of course, we regularly organize events where you can have a drink in the evening and shop at the same time. Other than that, Gaspard has been DJing for a while now and loves to play songs with his friends over at Tchin Tchin, the coolest cocktail bar on the beach, and Place, Dunkirk’s only club.
Thanks to Morgan for his answers. Visit their store at 7 bis rue Wilson, in Dunkerque.
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– E.R –
