Most memorable career tips ever received: Guillaume Philibert shares

Everyone has a quote or a career tip that they've received, that they will never forget. What are the career tips that fashion professionals have had and what kind of tips do they have for others? In this new series, FashionUnited will share these tips with you. In this edition: Guillaume Philibert, founder and creative director of Filling Pieces.

What tip have you never forgotten?

"It's quite a cliché statement. Trust the trial. I'm naturally very impatient. I studied architecture, for example, I did finish that, but during my studies I already had a long process because of that architecture. I want to be able to make a product right away in architecture, that takes a long time. Someone then told me that I have to trust the process and the older I get and the further I get on my career path, the more I realize how important it is. That you have faith in the fact that it will work out in the end and that the process you go through is not only important to learn but also to get more satisfaction from the successes and what you learn".

How has the advice influenced your career and current work?

"To give an example - in the ten years that we've been doing Filling Pieces we've learned a lot - we've also made a lot of mistakes. A lot of the mistakes we've made are because we sometimes rush things. For example, we started out as a shoe brand and started doing his clothing. Behind that is a very different process, clothing is very different from shoes. Different worlds.

"Clothing and shoes are equal in the fact that you wear both and that you have the core values of the brand in both products. But the design process, the development process, and the production process are just very different. We immediately had an expectation pattern: if we are going to do clothing, it's going to catch on right away. In the end, the process took much longer. Not only the designing and making, but also that people were aware that we had clothes and that they understood the concept. I compare it to a car brand that is also going to make motorcycles - it doesn't mean it's going to be successful right away".

"That's how I became very aware that the process is very important. And also that when it succeeds, the satisfaction is many times greater."

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What are your tips for others?

"Stand for something or fall for anything." Believe in yourself and rely on your own strength. You can't please or make everyone happy. It's about trusting in yourself and being happy, because I think that's where the most brilliant ideas come from."

"In the beginning we wanted Filling Pieces to reach everyone, that every magazine would write about us and that every buyer would buy us. Now we feel and clearly stand for something. We now have a following that thinks we're cool, a community. It's really important that you stand for something and that you want to please everyone. You can apply that at the brand level, but also in entrepreneurship and as a person".

P.S. from Guillaume

Before we close this conversation, Guillaume wants to make one last point. "The only thing I want to say to other entrepreneurs about the Covid-19 situation: If things were not right in your business model, now is the time to change. Now is your cue. If your organization is big and you want to do things differently, or your product was weird, now is your moment. Everyone understands what this situation is like and that now is the time to change. The people who don't want to do that now will go down hard after the virus. I believe we're moving in a direction that's good for everyone and now is the time to change for the better."

This article was originally published on FashionUnited.NL, translated and edited to English

Picture: Via Guillaume Philibert/Filling Pieces