ATELIER
Issue No. Nine  ·  Brand Story
Atelier
No. 9
Heritage leather goods, made
for lives that accumulate meaning.
Founded
2019
Ateliers
4
Repeat Rate
82%
Positioning
Heritage
DTC
Retail & Wholesale Partners
2026 Collection
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IX
Founding Story  ·  2019
A workshop in Lyon.
One promise.
Seven years of consequence.

Atelier No. 9 was born in a rented workshop in Lyon's Croix-Rousse quarter, where silk-weavers once worked before the machines arrived. Founders Margot Sérier and Cédric Villette had each spent a decade in luxury goods manufacturing — she in bag construction for a Parisian maison, he in full-grain sourcing across the Córdoba tanneries — when they decided that heritage craft deserved a direct relationship with the people who carry it.

The studio opened with nine SKUs, a six-week waitlist, and no wholesale partners. By refusing wholesale entirely for the first three years, the brand built something rarer than distribution: loyalty. Today, 82% of customers purchase again. That number is not a metric — it is the architecture of everything that follows.

82%
Repeat purchase rate — 2025 annual cohort
2019
Year founded  ·  Lyon, France
4
Ateliers across three continents, one promise
9
Original SKUs at launch — still the core line
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CARRY
"
We do not make fashion.
We make objects that outlive
the decade they were bought in.
Margot Sérier, Co-Founder & Creative Director  ·  Atelier No. 9
Founded
2019
Lyon, Croix-Rousse quarter
Repeat Rate
82%
Industry avg: 28–34%
Average Order
620
Across DTC channels, 2025
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CRAFT
The Craft Method  ·  Five Stages
From raw hide
to heirloom — five stages,
no shortcuts.
01
Tannery Selection
We source exclusively from three vegetable-tanneries in Córdoba, Spain and Ponte a Egola, Italy — each certified by the Leather Working Group. Hides are inspected in-person by Cédric Villette every season.
Córdoba & Toscana
02
Hand-Splitting & Sorting
Each hide is split by hand to a precise 2.2 mm for primary surfaces, 1.4 mm for linings. Skins are graded into four categories; only Grade A and B enter production. Grade C is donated to apprenticeship schools.
2.2 mm — 1.4 mm
03
Saddle-Stitch Assembly
All exterior seams are hand-stitched using the saddle-stitch method — two needles, linen thread, 8 stitches per centimetre. No machines touch load-bearing seams. Assembly time per piece: 4–11 hours depending on complexity.
8 spi · linen thread
04
Edge-Finishing
Edges are burnished with beeswax and a heated bone folder through five successive passes. No painted edges are used. Each finished edge bears a micro-bevel that takes approximately 25 minutes to complete on a full-size tote.
5-pass beeswax burnish
05
QC & Provenance Card
Every finished piece undergoes a 48-point inspection protocol before shipment. A handwritten Provenance Card — naming the artisan, hide origin, and stitch count — ships with each order. Lifetime repair is offered at any atelier.
Lifetime repair promise
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ATELIERS
Our Locations  ·  Four Ateliers
Four ateliers.
One promise.
Every location offers the same
48-point inspection, same lifetime
repair, same artisan card.
Paris, FR
Le Marais
Atelier
Opened 2019  ·  Flagship
Our original workshop on Rue de Bretagne, still home to lead artisan Étienne Marchand and his team of six. The ground floor doubles as a retail space where customers can observe the craft in progress. Repair appointments are taken six weeks in advance.
Artisans on staff
7
Milan, IT
Brera
Studio
Opened 2021  ·  Europe
The Italian studio sources its hardware exclusively from a family-run brass foundry in Lumezzane, Brescia. The Brera team specialises in the brand's structured briefcase and portfolio lines, which require the most complex internal architecture of any Atelier No. 9 design.
Artisans on staff
5
Kyoto, JP
Nakagyō
Workshop
Opened 2023  ·  Asia-Pacific
Our youngest atelier, located in a converted machiya townhouse in central Kyoto. The Nakagyō team introduced a proprietary indigo-dyed interior lining — hand-dyed in-house using century-old techniques — that has become the signature of the Asia-Pacific collection. Wait time: 8 weeks.
Artisans on staff
4
New York, US
Tribeca
Atelier
Opened 2024  ·  Americas
Our newest and largest physical space, opened in a former printing house in Tribeca. The ground floor is reserved entirely for repair and customisation services; retail occupies the mezzanine. Weekend craft workshops — sold out through Q3 2026 — are held in the press room.
Artisans on staff
6
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The Permanent Collection
Nine
Objects
The Line  ·  Core Collection
Nine objects.
Permanent collection.
All prices shown at recommended retail in EUR, ex-VAT.
I
The Tannery Tote
Full-grain bridle leather, brass rings, open-top construction. Our bestseller since 2019.
€ 780
II
The Mercer Briefcase
Two-compartment structured case, brass combination locks, removable padded sleeve.
€ 1,240
III
The Folio
A4 document holder, eight card slots, magnetic closure bar, hand-burnished spine.
€ 390
IV
The Weekend Duffel
48-litre capacity, single-stitch straps, Japanese ring hardware, suede base panel.
€ 1,650
V
The Slim Wallet
Six-card capacity, single note fold, vegetable-tanned calf, no stitching on exterior.
€ 185
VI–IX
Card Holder, Belt, Luggage Tag, Key Fob
Entry-line accessories — frequent first purchases that convert to high-ticket repeat buyers.
€ 85–145
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82%
Growth & Loyalty  ·  2019–2025
Repeat Rate 2025
82%
↑ 12pp vs 2022 cohort
Avg. Order Value
620
↑ 34% since 2021
LTV (36-month)
2.1k
per retained customer
NPS Score
74
Category benchmark: 38
Net Revenue — Annual (€M)
2019
€ 0.4M
2020
€ 0.7M
2021
€ 1.2M
2022
€ 2.1M
2023
€ 3.5M
2024
€ 5.0M
2025
€ 6.7M
"When 82% of people come back, you are not selling a product — you are tending a relationship."
The repeat rate at Atelier No. 9 is not accounted for by discounts or loyalty points — we offer neither. It is driven by the tactile experience of owning something that improves with age, by the Provenance Card that ships with every piece, and by a repair service that has restored over 1,200 items since 2019 without charge.
Average time between first and second purchase: 4.2 months — driven primarily by gifting.
64% of new customers are referred by an existing customer, with zero paid referral incentive.
Our CAC via owned channels is 91% lower than the leather-goods category median on paid social.
1,200+ pieces repaired at no cost — each repair converts to a new-purchase event within 60 days at a 78% rate.
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CARRY
ATELIER
Atelier No. 9  ·  On Craft
The luxury industry made a quiet bargain:
trade permanence for margin.
We refused.
Cédric Villette, Co-Founder & Head of Production  ·  Atelier No. 9  ·  2024
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TERMS
Channel Mix & Terms  ·  Wholesale Programme
Where we sell.
How we partner.
Selective wholesale opened 2023.
Eight approved partners globally.
Revenue by Channel — 2025
Atelier Direct (in-store)
Paris, Milan, Kyoto, New York
42%
atelierneuf.com
Owned e-commerce, global shipping
35%
Approved Wholesale
8 retail partners, curated selection only
23%
"We will never distribute through a channel that cannot tell the story of the piece. Wholesale partners are chosen for alignment, not reach."
Wholesale Programme — Partner Tiers
Term Approved Premier Flagship
Minimum Order Value € 8,000 € 20,000 € 50,000
Gross Margin (RRP) 42% 45% 48%
Payment Terms Net 30 Net 45 Net 60
Seasonal Lookbook
Staff Training Session
Co-branded Events
Repair Service Integration
Exclusive SKU Access
Dedicated Account Lead
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ATELIER
Our Arc  ·  2019–2027
The Transformation Arc
From a
Lyon workshop
to four continents.
Every decision Atelier No. 9 has made since 2019 has been an answer to the same question: what does it mean to make something that earns its place in someone's life for thirty years? The brand does not pursue scale for its own sake. It pursues depth — with customers, with craft partners, with the handful of retail spaces that carry the work with the care it deserves.
Founded
Lyon, 2019
Ateliers
4 cities
Artisans
22 globally
Revenue
€ 6.7M (2025)
2019
Founded — Lyon, Croix-Rousse
Nine SKUs, one workshop, first Provenance Card written by hand. €0.4M first-year revenue entirely DTC.
2021
Milan Brera Studio opens
The briefcase and folio lines introduced. Italian hardware partnerships established. Revenue crosses €1M for the first time.
2023
Kyoto Workshop & Wholesale Launch
Asia-Pacific atelier opens with indigo-dyed lining programme. Selective wholesale begins with eight approved partners globally.
2024
Tribeca Atelier — New York
Americas flagship opens with dedicated repair floor. Craft workshops sell out through 2025. NPS reaches 74.
2026–27
Next Chapter
Fifth atelier under consideration (Seoul or São Paulo). Premier wholesale programme expanding to 20 partners. Bespoke commission programme launching Q4 2026.
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ATELIER
Closing
Carry
Atelier.
For buyers and partners who understand that the best things in a store are the ones customers will bring back — to be repaired, not returned. We are looking for fewer, better wholesale relationships in 2026.
Wholesale Enquiries
partners@atelierneuf.com
Press & Gifting
press@atelierneuf.com
Website
atelierneuf.com
Partner Invitation  ·  2026
Begin
the
conversation.
We select wholesale partners the same way we select leather: by hand, with time, and with the understanding that the relationship will outlast the season. If your store tells stories, we should talk.
Request a Partner Catalogue
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