727sailbagsa designer of lifestyle accessories made from recycled sails, was looking for a Prestashop agency that shared its Breton roots and high standards. They chose Soledis, thePrestaShop agency Expert*** du Grand Ouest, based in Vannes, Morbihan.

Tell us about 727 sailbags and the particularities of its e-business?

727sailbags is a group of men and women who love the sea and ocean racing. It's in Brittany and from boat sails that they design their products: bags, poufs, cushions, lampshades as well as ready-to-wear for men and women. It's no coincidence that they're based at La Base de Lorient Grand Large, a world-renowned preparation and training site for ocean racing. Here, they have opened a sail recycling center close to charterers, sailmakers and all those involved in ocean racing. For Matthieu BIMBENET, co-director of the Morbihan-based company with Nicolas VETO, this is at the heart of 727sailbags' DNA: "Unlike most players in the textile industry, which is prey to fast fashion, we create our collections from the material we have available, not from a design. Our collections are designed to remain in the shop window for around 2 years (rather than just a few weeks), in line with our sustainable development approach."

727sailbags is both a manufacturer and distributor of its creations made from recycled sails. The brand has 5 permanent boutiques, 2 seasonal boutiques, a boutique in the United States and works with retailers in France and abroad. It is also present at numerous events in the world of ocean racing: boat shows in France and the United States, the Route du Rhum, the Solitaire du Figaro, the Bol d'Or Mirabaud... And last but not least, we also offer customized items on a BtoB basis.

727sailbags has had an online store since 2010, when it opened its first store. The company has always relied on a multi-channel strategy. It's a strategy we'll keep for the long term," says Matthieu Bimbenet. Our website represents 20% of our sales, our boutiques 35% and our BtoB activity 40%. It's a balance we want to maintain. All these activities feed off each other, and it's a virtuous circle that works.

In 2021, you wanted to redesign your eCommerce site. What did you need?

"At the time, we had two websites: a French .fr site and an American .us site. In 2020, we changed our business model in the United States and opened our own boutique in Annapolis. It was essential that our e-commerce tool corresponded to our new organization. We also had to modernize our sites and make our American website responsive, as it was not until then," explains Matthieu Bimbenet, the company's General Manager in charge of product, supply chain, communications and marketing.

The French 727sailbags site was on an older version of Prestashop that was no longer being maintained. Matthieu Bimbenet and his team decided to stay with Prestashop, which they already knew and which gave them complete satisfaction. They wanted to invest in a multisite to be able to manage their online activities from a single back office interface. They also wanted to transform their French site into a multilingual one, so they could reach the whole of Europe.

"Over and above responsive design, which is an essential prerequisite, we wanted to revamp the graphic identity of our website, optimize our UX (User Experience) and become autonomous in updating it. We were looking for a partner capable of meeting our graphic designers' high standards," adds Matthieu Bimbenet.

All that was missing was a Prestashop agency to match their ambitions.

How do you choose a Prestashop agency?

Matthieu Bimbenet recalls this selection stage:

"Our criteria were quite clear. We were looking for :

  • A Prestashop Expert*** agency: this certification assured us of perfect knowledge and mastery of the latest version of Prestashop. Soledis is also an official Prestashop trainer in the west of France, and publishes its own modules. This reassured us.
  • An agency in Brittany, whether in Vannes, Brest, Lorient, Saint-Brieuc or Rennes. We're attached to our local roots: it's only natural for us to contribute to our region's economy.
  • A Prestashop agency that allowed us to stay within a reasonable budget: this website redesign was a very big investment for us.
  • An agency technically capable of taking into account our specific requirements, whether from a graphic or functional point of view. Ecommerce agencies have more or less back or front-end web developers in their teams, and this is a point to which we were attentive. 

Soledis, a Prestashop Expert*** agency in Vannes, met all these criteria. We are delighted with this collaboration. It's an e-commerce agency that knows how to adapt to its customers' requirements."

What were the more complicated technical aspects of your project?

The customized product configurator

"We wanted to offer our customers the possibility of personalizing their products online, by choosing not only the fabric and color, but also the shape, size and placement of a customized motif in a different fabric. The web agency Soledis had already created equivalent product configurators for several customers. Their experience enabled us to get to grips with the technical details quickly, so that we could migrate the configurator from our old Prestashop 1.6 site to version 1.7. We then worked together to come up with a simple, functional configurator".

Graphics and UX

With the redesign of this website, the recycled sail brand wanted to overhaul its site graphics and improve its UX. "Graphic design was our main focus. I knew that our graphic designers would be very demanding with Soledis. But Soledis' webdesigner and Front integrators were able to adapt and integrate our constraints. They were able to make suggestions to remain user-friendly as the website progressed," says Matthieu Bimbenet.

Natural referencing

727sailbags also works with a specialized SEO agency. The brand was therefore careful not to lose position, or even to gain it, on the occasion of their website redesign. As a 360 agency that also offers webmarketing and SEO services, Soledis knew exactly what needed to be checked and improved to meet the customer's requirements. SEO is an integral part of Soledis' working methods.

At Soledis, Agence Prestashop in Vannes, we're proud to have contributed to Brittany's international reputation through this fine company, which has succeeded in combining business with sustainable development. The prospects for the 727sailbags site are numerous, and we're delighted that this collaboration will be built over the long term.