 Australian husband and wife team, Van Tran and Alicia Lai, recently opened a vegan and ethical footwear and accessory shop in Richmond, London. The opening coincided with the UKs National Vegetarian Week aimed at promoting meat-free living to the wider community.
The Bourgeois Boheme store stocks vegan fashion and cosmetics products from global brands, in addition to its very own Bourgeois Boheme Boutique range of ethical footwear and fashion accessories. Following on from its first footwear ranges, Jiva and Espiritual, the company is now extending its range to organic and eco-friendly fabrics which will be released in June 2008.
Originally hailing from Sydney, Van and Alicia moved to the UK in 2000 after backpacking through Europe. The pair then started Bourgeois Boheme as an online business in 2005. They say the move to open a physical retail store was spurred by the growing interest in vegan and cruelty-free lifestyles in London.
It was a case of the right time and the right place. There was no doubt in our minds that UK vegans needed a better choice of animal-friendly fashion and we were there to fill the gap, said Alicia.
In extending their business from an online to a physical retail location, Bourgeois Boheme is responding not only to customer requests for a try and buy service but also to one of the key problems in online footwear retail; almost 90 per cent of returns from online sales relate to shoe-fitting issues.
Visitors to both the online and London stores can expect to find a wide range of footwear, bags, wallets and belts (for women and men), and cosmetics. Van and Alicia say that they are impressed with the growing number of online customers from Australia.
Its wonderful to see our dream of a vegan fashion company becoming a reality; weve now got our sights set on bringing what weve built back home. Next stop: Bourgeois Boheme Sydney, said Van.
Bourgeois Boheme
Hydrex House, Garden Road, Richmond, London, UK
Shop hours: Mon-Fri 9am - 5pm, Sat 10am - 2pm
WORDS: Emily Clark
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