Sustainability as a common thread at Dille & Kamille
Sustainability has been an important core value for us since the founding of Dille & Kamille. The focus of our products is not only that they should last a long time, but also that they are produced locally. This reduces the ecological footprint and makes quick deliveries easier for customers.
Customers also trust us to make conscious choices. They are critical, which keeps us on our toes, but also grateful for our commitment to using natural and plant-based materials. The trust we have built up in the meantime motivates us to keep going the extra mile.
The right partner at the right time
We used to find a good partner for our brush offer with a German agent. Cooperation with that intermediary went very smoothly as we had fewer shops in the beginning. But the growth of Dille & Kamille created the need for more control, consistency and flexibility. Moreover, those small numbers meant we couldn't offer personalised products at the time.
Through trade fairs and online research, I ended up at Flanders Brush Makers. I met them at a trade fair in Frankfurt and it clicked immediately. Flanders Brush Makers combines expert knowledge and modern machinery with a conscious approach, such as choosing FSC-certified wood in their product range.
"Flanders Brush Makers came up with the idea of replacing the butterfly sticker with a card that can slide over the brushes - a practical and neat solution that we enthusiastically adopted."
A well-informed customer
Our customers are quite critical and we really like that. Since there is not always space in the shops for extensive product information, we have been organising a Welcome Day with tastings and training sessions for new staff since 2020. This allows them to inform customers as well as possible. In new shops, we occasionally highlight specific products with more information, although this is not feasible everywhere. We also try to do the same on the website. Given our wide product range, this is a challenge, but one we gladly accept!
"Spout brushes made of plant fibres are really new. Dille & Kamille is the first to come up with this demand and currently the only one we make them for. I do expect more demand in the future." - Christophe Hochepied (General manager, Flanders Brush Makers)
‘Flanders Brush Makers is a specialist, which is nice because they understand everything about their business. Moreover, compared to our previous partner, it is a great advantage that the production of all brush products is now in the hands of one experienced party.’
A quality range
Our philosophy and material choices largely determine what is on the shelves. What is a plus is that Flanders Brush Makers was thoughtful and gave suggestions in advance to include some popular products from their range in ours. Even though these were not always relevant to us and we knew well what we wanted to offer, we found this very positive.
Furthermore, we see that people do not want animal hair in the brushes and prefer plant-based alternatives. For these products, production close to home is often better, although this is not always true. At Flanders Brush Makers, we know the quality is very good, but that does not mean that production in the Far East is necessarily bad.
In short, it is one of the smoothest collaborations I currently have. In addition, Flanders Brush Makers' products are also a lot cheaper than other products in our range that contain different ingredients.
For Lieke Van Harsselaar, the benefits of working with Flanders Brush Makers are as follows:
1. A flexible and solution-oriented partner:
Flanders Brush Makers actively thinks about (product) improvements and gives
suggestions on products that could be interesting for our product range.
2. Broad product range
Flanders Brush Makers' range stands out because of its uniform appearance and natural design,
which fits exactly with the style Dille & Kamille customers love.