{"id":941,"date":"2025-10-14T07:37:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T07:37:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/941\/"},"modified":"2025-10-14T07:37:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T07:37:09","slug":"nomasei-plans-first-funding-round-as-it-returns-to-new-york-for-pop-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/941\/","title":{"rendered":"Nomasei Plans First Funding Round As It Returns to New York for Pop-up"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tPARIS<\/a> \u2014 A year after its first New York City pop-up<\/a>, Parisian shoe label Nomasei is back in town for a week, as it presses forward with its direct-to-consumer strategy and gears up for its first funding round.<\/p>\n

\n\tUntil Monday, the brand is taking over a 450-square-foot space at 251 Elizabeth Street in NoLIta.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt will showcase 14 of its 29 models and offer by-appointment customization workshops for its bestselling Nono loafer<\/a> and Sonics derbies. There will also be dance classes with Kalon, a Parisian fitness brand created by professional dancers.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Nomasei\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tNomasei participated in a\u00a02025 Valentine\u2019s Day capsule with (RED)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe didn\u2019t think twice about it,\u201d Marine Braquet, who cofounded the brand with footwear designer Paule Tenaillon, told WWD and FN. \u201cLast year, we came on a whim after our Paris<\/a> pop-up<\/a>\u2026we were expecting visibility, to be talked about and actually, we sold loads.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tNew York was also a no-brainer because it\u2019s where it all started for the brand. <\/p>\n

\n\tAn introduction to the press in November 2019 netted immediate e-commerce sales but Nomasei was waylaid by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, four months in.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen business picked up again in early 2021, the U.S. emerged as the top market.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt continues to account for 50 percent of the French company\u2019s sales, far ahead of the 30 percent share of its home market of France and the U.K.\u2019s 10 percent. (The rest is scattered around the world, from Scandinavia to Australia.)<\/p>\n

\n\tIn addition to an appearance on Netflix\u2019s hit show \u201cEmily in Paris,\u201d the French brand has been worn by real-life bold-face names like Bella and Gigi Hadid, Julia Roberts, Nicole Kidman, Sarah Jessica Parker <\/a>and Pamela Anderson over the years. <\/p>\n

\n\tBut for Tenaillon, who serves as Nomasei\u2019s creative director, the reason for this quene-around-the-block moment that saw 200 pairs, for around $75,000, fly out of the door in a matter of days with a short-notice announcement all came down to \u201cvisibility with a product that\u2019s affordable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tPrices in the U.S. range from $595 for its Nono loafer and up to $1,095 for over-the-knee boots, after a 15 percent price increase on Aug. 1 due to tariffs on European goods.<\/p>\n

\n\tOffering luxury-level footwear comfortable enough to be danced in at prices that their friends could stomach is the idea that had Braquet and Tenaillon pack in positions at Chlo\u00e9 to strike out on their own.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"NEW<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tAnderson at the Pandora Talisman launch, wearing Nomasei\u2019s Gattaca pump.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy Aeon\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\n\tWIth respective track records spanning two decades at the likes of Chanel, Dior, Givenchy, Jil Sander and Louis Vuitton, they also had non-negotiable ideals of fair and sustainable practices.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe first is built into the moniker of the brand. Nomasei plays on the syllables of \u201csei mani,\u201d which means six hands in Italian.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s the idea that no one works alone, because in the houses, throughout our career, it\u2019s often one [person] who is seen like a rock star and all the rest barely get a thank you,\u201d Tenaillon said.<\/p>\n

\n\tHaving long rued a situation where factories ended up squeezed for delays and prices, the two founders decided to make theirs, located in the Italian town of Montopoli in Tuscany, a partner in the brand to the tune of a 15 percent stake. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tSeasonless styles, made from high-end materials sourced where possible from existing stocks, and the use of preorders to right-size production were also par for the course. The brand even displays its footwear\u2019s repairability index, in partnership with Paris-based cobbler Galoche & Patin, to encourage repairs and reuse over new purchases.<\/p>\n

\n\tAlmost six years in the brand \u2014 and four years of activity, given the pandemic, Braquet pointed out \u2014 Nomasei now sells around 7,000 pairs a year, with around three months\u2019 worth of inventory produced on top of that.<\/p>\n

\n\tComing up next is a pop-up in London in Notting Hill, starting Nov. 19. Its customization service, which are with Tenaillon, currently available only at its by-appointment Paris showroom and during pop-ups is also slated to roll out on the website in 2026.<\/p>\n

\n\tReturning to New York also comes at a key moment for Braquet and Tenaillon.<\/p>\n

\n\tAt the tail-end of August, the company paid off the debt it had incurred during the pandemic, when its Italian factory opened them a line of credit to keep things flowing, and restructured in 2023 through a friends-and-family funding.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Nomasei's<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tNomasei\u2019s customization workshops<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy<\/p>\n

\n\tThen there was profitability. Despite double- and sometimes triple-digit year-on-year growth, and repeat customers accounting for 37 percent of the business every month, the break even point remained elusive.<\/p>\n

\n\tSharp cuts in marketing expenses and the launch of an affiliate program in the U.S. in 2024 yielded results, particularly as sales remained apace with last year in the first half of 2025. The company became profitable \u2014 \u201cand most importantly, we continued to acquire new clients,\u201d Braquet said.<\/p>\n

\n\tNow the Parisian brand is ready for its next step: raising funds to fuel growth.<\/p>\n

\n\tBy early next year, the founders hope to have locked a \u201cone-plus-ten\u201d amount.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThat means 1 million [euros] today to install our fundamentals, show what we\u2019re capable of \u2014 being profitable, generating growth and meeting our performance indicators,\u201d Braquet said. \u201cAnd then 10 [million] in two years to really accelerate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tA new chapter that could include adding a permanent brick-and-mortar component to Nomasei\u2019s DTC strategy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PARIS \u2014 A year after its first New York City pop-up, Parisian shoe label Nomasei is back in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":942,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1162,9,24,55,54,56,1163,1164],"class_list":{"0":"post-941","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-made-in-italy","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-new-york-city","11":"tag-new-york-city-headlines","12":"tag-new-york-city-news","13":"tag-ny","14":"tag-paris","15":"tag-pop-up"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=941"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}