"I'm not intelligent enough to work in front of a computer," Roland Herlory tells us.But we believe it is: you have to be to move to the paradisiac.Barth’s, where he enjoys, if possible at the Playa de la Salinas, “from the rubb.

“Necesito ver gente, percibir las ondas de cada sitio, sentir las calles. Así es como me vienen las ideas a la cabeza. No me gusta estar en lo alto de la torre”, confiesa. Para el CEO, que pasó 30 años en Hermès, ba-ñarse desnudo está muy bien... –“si voy a la playa muy temprano o muy tarde y no hay gente, prefiero nadar desnudo, es verdad", se ríe. "Madrugo mucho para hablar con París y Ginebra, por la diferencia horaria”–pero vestirse ad hoc es mostrar respeto por el otro y una forma de expresarse".

“De hecho, la palabra ‘traje de baño’ me encanta, para mí tiene que ver con respetar al otro, es una forma de estar. Además, muchos se pasan la vida con un traje oscuro y gracias a estas prendas se permiten sacar su sentido del humor y mostrar quiénes son”.

“When you are on the beach or the pool you do not have many accessories to show your personality, you have to choose a single piece to cause an impression.For me the beauty of our brand lies in that extreme fantasy of the designs, which is very related to quality.We have fabrics that, already the dry or wet swimsuit, shows the same fall, the same Allure.That is elegance for me, ”explains Roland.

The details are those that define quality, luxury, in their designs."For example, if you look at the pockets - for the way, did you know that they are the most expensive part of the swimsuits?.When you look at one of our garments perceive harmony, but you don't know why.Is due to those details.And then there is comfort, of course.It is fundamental, especially in men.A woman does put on uncomfortable shoes, for example, because she likes them, but in a man this is unthinkable.We are very selfish ".

The origin of Vilebrequin is a love story: in the 1970s, Fred Prysquel, a car journalist, great friend of Didier Pironi and other F1 pilots of the time, traveled the world to follow the Grand Prix.He saw surfers in California, traveled throughout Africa...And he fell madly in a stumble.As could look fatal in a swimsuit, he designed one with which to be more favored, to seduce her.

The firm has one hundred and eighty stores worldwide, some of which open only in season, and reflects the entire glamor of the 70s, Mick and Bianca Jagger ... an already lost elegance?“Well, the world is very fast today, it is superficial in many ways.It is important to take time to enjoy.Recover certain values.We do that with quality and details.It's not about buying something by status.If I get that functionality and quality, I am happy.But also, I love beauty ".

“We must be able to admire beauty, which is the highest level of civilization.That's why I'm going so much to museums.I need to go from time to time, when I feel overcome ... there is something in your brain that clicks when you contemplate art.And in Europe ... there is so much beauty around us!When I was in Hermès I did it to disconnect, it was my oxygen ".

Among his favorite museums around the world is the Seoul Leeum.“It is very special, they did the Swiss architect Mario Botta, the Frenchman Jean Nouvel and the Belgian Rem Koolhaas.I love them to agree and combine their styles, it is exciting.In the ceramic part I can spend hours just looking at how transparent and delicate it is ".

He also loves the anthropology of Mexico, "his human history, those civiliations prior to ours.It's like the Louvre, you can go a thousand times and you always discover new things.And the construction is wonderful, those volumes of the 70s.Has an unforgettable source ".

And the third on his podium, he tells us, would be the fraud, in Metz.The former commissioner was a woman who worked with many artists - without proclaiming him, he simply did, in a very well constructed way - and there his special sensitivity, fragile and strong, "Roland says, and is excited to remember when he remembers it."As art lover, I need to be surprised.A whisper, sometimes, it's more than a shout ".

Returning to a more 'bearable' beauty, such as swimsuits, explains that Vilebrequin would be recognized as the best bathroom in the world."Maybe it sounds pretentious, but it is so.I do not want us to spread over our essence, but we stay loyal to our DNA: ST.Tropez, how it was to spend the day on the beach in the 70s, freedom, sense of humor ... but I want us to grow at our natural rhythm ".

Exactly the one that has made them grow 10-20% in the last six years."That is just what I want.Grow up without harming.I believe in the rhythm of nature.This idea is also present in our Denim collection, which is very interesting.The denim is a symbol of the 70s, so it also means returning to our roots.We have sought an Italian high quality manufacturer, we know that it will take time to get credibility, but we will get it ".

Patience does not lack this Frenchman, who traveled as a backpack in the 80s to discover that he feels comfortable anywhere.How did you feel without mobile, without the Internet ...?"Well, it was the 80s, so there was nothing like that yet," she laughs, and explains that from that experience came out ... "The man I am now".

"I learned that you have to open my mind.I didn't know where I was going, I didn't reserve, I didn't know where the night would happen.I needed to be well received and learned to receive others.At first it is scary.Then hug the other and realize that you could live anywhere in the world, the planet is your home.You can feel comfortable and free anywhere, it is overwhelming ".

And today, when you travel, what do you need to find in a hotel room?“Now I'm older and I travel a lot for work, so I need a good wifi connection.But the boutique hotels attract me.I want to feel the place where I am.There are people who reassures finding a uniformity, knowing what awaits them.For me it is scary to find the same everywhere.I like to be surprised, whenever there is a good bed ".

His commitment to environmental care is firm: “My philosophy is to take care of the planet.First, as a citizen.Then as an entrepreneur, I think that simple things generate a great impact.But I don't want to use sustainability as a marketing tool.I do not proclaim that my company is sustainable but, if they ask me, I say we try to go in that direction ”.

At the production level, in Vilebrequin they use recycled tissues."But be careful, I insist, sometimes that is used as an echo symbol, and the footprint in some of these processes is sometimes even worse.The biggest challenge today is the plastic in the oceans.That is why I love a project that we have with a specific fabric, of a more adjusted cut, which is done in Spain, precisely, from discarded materials in the sea.The first step, anyway, is to change the mentality of the people ".

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