Soft power at daytime, Bohemian chic at night by Raoul

Four years ago, SSI executive vice president Anton Huang walked into a Raoul store in Singapore and was surprised at what he saw: men’s shirts that were “competitive with Hugo Boss in quality but for a much lower price point.” He knew the owners of the store — Douglas and Odile Benjamin — because both their families had been working with international brands and bringing them into the region.

But Raoul is a different story. This is Douglas and Odile’s own brand, born in Asia and catering to the global consumer. 

With his knack for knowing just what Filipino shoppers want and his company’s expertise in brand building (65 brands and counting as of late last year), Anton knew that Raoul would be a perfect fit in the local market. So just two weeks ago, SSI opened the first Raoul store in Manila at Greenbelt 5.

The fact that everyone is tightening their belts is not stopping SSI from bringing in a new brand, its first from Asia. In fact, this is what Raoul is all about: you can get couture-house quality for Asian prices.

“That’s exactly what happened during the 1997 crisis,” says Anton. “Our sales during that year and in the next two years were very strong because the Philippine upper segment was shopping more at home rather than abroad. I think it’s going to be the same with this global crisis.”

Raoul started in 2003 as a men’s boutique in Singapore and soon became very popular for its woven cotton shirts. “We opened our first store amid the SARS crisis,” says Douglas Benjamin. “Even people with money were not willing to spend S$500 for a shirt, they came to us and found shirts for S$150 for the same quality.”

The shirts were so loved that even women were snapping them up and having them altered to suit their figures. Douglas looked at what was happening and said, “This is not going to work, women are walking around in men’s shirts that don’t fit them! So we decided to have a women’s line. When we came out with women’s clothing, it was just shirts. Then they’d say, ‘Do you have anything for the weekend? So we added the spaghetti straps, and then they said, ‘You have something for evening?’ And then the sundresses came, and then they’d say, ‘But we need skirts and pants, too.’”

Today, the women’s line carries a full range for work, leisure and evening, and accessories, too. 

Douglas’s wife Odile heads the women division, and for the brand’s spring-summer collection, her inspiration came from the Bohemian ‘70s and resort wear reminiscent of glorious summers in the Riviera. The dresses are free-flowing, the fabrics soft, the patterns and prints romantic, and the palette a mix of pale reds, yellows, and purples, and very strong whites. 

“We wanted something very light, very happy, flowy, easy to understand, and at the same time commercial,” says Odile. “Everybody wants fuss-free clothing. There’s so much fuss going on around the world, so many complications, you want your clothing to be easy and classic.”

With such soft fabrics and draping, the models looked like they were gliding in air instead of walking on the catwalk during the preview in Singapore.

Douglas adds, “The ‘70s was a time of freedom and self -expression. I personally love the flowy pieces. I find it limiting when you put women in very structured clothes. As opposed to 10 to 15 years ago, when fashion was very androgynous, today women celebrate their beauty, their individuality. The ‘70s was all about that. When I saw one of our printed dresses finished and brought it back from the workshop, I thought, ‘This is like a dream, it could be a dress from a big designer selling for thousands and thousands of US dollars. We’re puling this off in Raoul and giving it to somebody for US$500 and the women look like they’ve just come off the runway.’ It’s very empowering for us because then we get even more motivated and push the envelope further next season.”

The work clothes for the women’s line still retain femininity and softness. It’s power dressing — tailored and structured — with a feminine touch.

“For fall we worked more on a kind of architectural look,” says Odile. “For spring-summer it’s not as hard and as structured. You have to bear in mind the materials you’re using: for winter it’s heavy fabrics, which make it easier to be architectural with the design, but for spring-summer, it’s the flowy type of softness, more draped, more feminine. The structured look is carried on because we have to cater to the corporate woman.”

In 2007, the women’s division — then only in its second year — made up 20 percent of the brand; in 2008, it was 35 percent.

“It’s grown a lot and very fast,” says Douglas.

Odile explains, “I think it’s because women are more impulsive and more difficult to please as well. I stand in the men’s store and see that a man will try on one shirt and he’ll buy 10; a woman will try on 10 and will buy one piece.”

While the collections change every season, Raoul retains the classic pieces such as men’s and women’s shirts. But for this season even the men’s collection are remarkably soft in fabrication and color, ranging from silks to cotton, from pale grays and white, and even pink and lavender.

“We experimented a little bit this time with silks, and for first time we used colorful prints,” says Douglas, who heads the men’s division. “The sky’s the limit, we don’t work within a square. Wherever we get nice, new, novelty materials, we go.”

The husband and wife team has made it a point to consult each other when it comes to both the creative and the business sides of Raoul. When asked if conflict ever arises, Douglas jokes, “Yes, sometimes people have to wear a helmet and duck.”

The couple has been working together for the past 16 years and has three children. They picked their son’s name Raoul to use as brand name because it has both a universal appeal (Raoul is the French “Raul,” a name that has a version in many languages) and is easy but unique enough to remember. “We didn’t want to name the store John or Jim,” he says.  

Douglas was born in Singapore and has been managing and directing the growth of some of the most iconic global fashion brands in Singapore. He is the CEO of FJ Benjamin, a family company comparable to the Philippines’ SSI, and is the leader in brand building and developing retail and distribution networks for international luxury and lifestyle brands in Singapore. Odile was born in Lebanon and migrated to London when she was 13. She speaks six languages and is the divisional director of licensing and product development for FJ Benjamin.

“The beauty of the work is that we’re husband and wife. Neither of us can quit,” says Douglas. “At the end of the day, it’s not about ego. I design the men’s and Odile is involved in the ladies, but we cross over and we respect each other’s opinions. Because of this, we become one brand. It’s not a ladies’ brand and men’s — but Raoul.”

In only six years, Raoul has expanded to 33 stores, including boutiques all over Southeast Asia, Dubai and Bahrain. “Asian design is going to come up and it’s not going to be what the west perceives it to be — which is very ethnic. It’s going to be a product that can go head to head with European and American brands. A lot of the design facilities and manufacturing are here, we can compete on an equal basis. Asian customers are what’s fueling the labels today, they are the most informed and discerning customers.”

Odile adds, “We’re designing on an international level. Would somebody from the US wear something like this, somebody from Europe? Customers that walk into Raoul tell us the prices are very reasonable and the quality very good. The repeat customers always come back because of the value for money. They can be designer-label customers carrying designer bags and wearing designer shoes, and they will buy our clothes.”

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Raoul is located on the ground level of Greenbelt 5, Makati City.