Covid one year on: as responsible women entrepreneurs

Personal post as responsible entrepreneurs during this Covid period.
It will often be written in the first person, but there are still two of us!

When Covid started, well, I don't know if the term is appropriate, but when we were in lockdown, there was no question of resuming Peau-Ethique. Even personally, I felt like I was reaching the end of the road: to give you an idea, we've been around since 2004, and I've been with the company since 2006. This lockdown completely changed my way of thinking. For the founder (Cathy), it was clear that the adventure was coming to an end. And Peau-Ethique is a healthy company. It's crazy to think that in 2021. Times are tough. But the foundations are solid. So closing it down would have been a real waste.

Lockdown Season 1

Then came the lockdown. A rather fortunate lockdown for us. Countryside, garden, back home to mum and dad for me, and then taking ownership of the work through newsletters. Newsletters with zero products to sell. A concept. It was do or die. Well, I won't hide it from you, there were quite a few unsubscribes. But it was a risk. I played and didn't lose too much!

8 weeks. That's long. Days at zero. Shops unable to pay for ordered stock. We adapt. We're in this together, deep down.

Then the trade shows get cancelled. A turnover we'll never recover, despite all the sleepless nights we spend trying to find "the good idea that will make it happen."

Then came the idea of taking over. You have to be a little crazy to take over a company during this uncertainty. We share this madness. The new school year arrives. We're all in. All in with the idea that Covid is behind us (laughs) and that everything will restart (more laughs). Like everyone else, we very, very quickly became disillusioned (like the generation).

The year isn't so bad after all. Sales on the e-commerce site are rather good, but on the other hand, there's a huge drop in boutique sales and, of course, zero euros from trade shows, which used to represent a good portion of our revenue. We have to reinvent ourselves. It's not easy. Sometimes ideas bubble up like a pressure cooker. And then reality catches up. We're not going to complain. We have a salary. An apartment. Hobbies.

What's next?

Be careful, this is not a negative post. It's really just a glimpse into our reality. We try, but sometimes we can't. Expand our product range further? Not for now because we don't have the cash flow. We can't offer more sizes, as that requires more fabric for few pieces sold (we'll really try to address inclusivity in terms of cost). Being responsible entrepreneurs isn't just a label for us; it's really how we've worked from the beginning!

But we have launched a new product, our menstrual panties! A long year of work

Not everything is so negative; there are many things we will still try to improve. And writing this kind of article once a month is one of them!