Helene Fulchi is a French Mum living in Lisbon with her husband Nicolas and daughter Paz (3 years old). With a background in marketing and advertisement Helene founded Minois Paris in December 2015. Florence chats with Helene to discover more about this ever expanding children’s skincare range.

So why Minois?
I had it in mind for a while the idea of creating a treatment brand designed for little ones. When Paz my daughter came along it was a great inspiration for me to begin this adventure. Like all mums, I felt a great sense of responsibility. So I decided to create Minois Paris, a line of children’s skincare.
My initial idea was simple, to offer safe and reliable products that can be used on babies from birth to older children. Our products are free from parabens, sulphates, phenoxyethanol, silicones and artificial colourings. They are very respectful to go on little one’s sensitive skin.
In french Minois is a delicate word describing the face, so it reflects perfectly the softness of the ingredients we use, just as the packaging does.`
What are the trade shows where you showed the products?
At the beginning, Minois was present at Playtime and now we are also at Maison & Objet. We will be showing our new products next september at M&O. We work directly with our resellers, no agents in Europe but we have a partner for the Asian market.
Minois is distributed in about 150 stores around the world; can you tell us the breakdown?
In terms of retail, we really believe in the mix between online and bricks and mortar. It’s very important to offer a real experience both online and in store.
- 65% of our resellers are in France but we work with more and more resellers abroad.
- 50% of them are only bricks and mortar
- 20% are purely online resellers
- 30% of them have both website and physical store.
In France, we really like Centre Commercial Kids, which offer an ethical selection of very nice brands in a beautiful store in the 10th neighborhood in Paris. And Smallable, the place to be to find all the great kid’s brands from fashion to design, and of course skincare – they are located in the heart of the very parisian 6th neighborhood.
Abroad, there is a store in Amsterdam named Archive Store by Anna and Martine. It’s a very well decorated large space with brands from all over the world.
You are about to open a store in Paris, do you have plans to expand abroad?
It’s not planned for now but yes we do not exclude it :)
It’s easy to use natural ingredients in creams, but it is harder to avoid using the harmful substances. You seem to have a pretty good formula. What makes you proud of your product?
Our products are produced in the South of France, everything is 100% made in France. The aim with Minois is really to offer a safe product and we can’t afford any doubts about the ingredients. The products are going to be used on very sensitive skin of children. We really believe in having the shortest list of ingredients possible and it’s why our products are free from paraben, sulphates, phenoxyethanol, silicones and artificial colorings.
All our products are going through a very strict process of tests with substance experts, and of course we respect all the legal standards.
So far, we only get very positive feedbacks about our products and we have very loyal customers. We are very proud of building this trusty relationship with them.
Thank you Helene, wonderful work!
www.minoisparis.fr
Follow @minois
Katie Kendrick
Curly haired Editor of Pirouette & journalist for various publications. It's my pleasure to talk business, culture and life here at Pirouette.
Subscribe to Pirouette's monthly Newsletter.
You might also like
October 1, 2016
PèPè Children Shoes x The Animals Observatory
When it comes to PèPè Children Shoes + The Animals Observatory, we say Vive La Collaboration!
January 27, 2015
Luluzulu, accessories for children and home
Scottish brand LULUZULU will be showing at Playtime Paris this week end and we can't wait to visit them. Their children and home collection reveals love of mischievous imagination and…
June 20, 2014
Organic children’s brand Noch at Playtime Paris
Organic clothing line for babies NOCH mini was founded in 2010 by designer Jina Jang. The label, based in New York, will be showing at Playtime Paris (July 5, 6, 7).
October 7, 2013
Children’s shoes by Danish Brand Angulus
Danish shoe brand Angulus was founded in 1904 and has more than 100 years of experience in making shoes for little feet (and adults). Quality, design and comfort are very important to the brand :…
May 30, 2013
The Preppy Children’s Beachwear of Toobydoo
Paul Thomas Lips and wife Sonja van der Wel launched Toobydoo (a word play on philosopher's Plato and Sartre's famous quote 'To be, is to do') in 2009. Clean lines, accent on practicality, preppy…
July 16, 2012
Gastronomy + Children’s Fashion at Bonpoint Paris
The Paris Bonpoint flagship is impressive in size and displays an inspiring visual merchandising. The addition of Japanese canteen Nanashi, which serves healthy organic bento boxes (owner Kaori Endo…
February 17, 2012
The happy marriages of children’s brands
Just to make this Easter very special, British designer Donna Wilson will collaborate with a beloved
May 7, 2010
For children, by children
I am very excited to feature Smories.com on Pirouette. It is a wonderful free website where children can watch short films of new stories being narrated by other children. Smories has been…