The atelier in the 11th arrondissement still smells of linen starch and coffee

The atelier in the 11th arrondissement still smells of linen starch and coffee. On the cutting table: a coat in undyed ramie, shoulder seams open, waiting. The pattern pieces are marked in pencil, not chalk. This is how ZUZWA has worked since 2011, and how it works now — slowly, by hand, with a preference for the unfinished edge.

The house was founded by Zofia Kowalska in Paris after a decade at Lemaire and a brief, unsatisfying stint consulting for a Belgian conglomerate. Kowalska wanted to make clothes for a body in motion, not a body on display. The first collection was 11 pieces. All of them sold. By 2014, ZUZWA had a waiting list for its signature trench — a wide-shouldered, unlined coat in Japanese cotton twill that weighed almost nothing and moved like paper.

That trench is still in the line. It has been refined six times. The current version has a slightly longer vent and a narrower sleeve head, but the silhouette is unchanged. Kowalska has said in interviews that she is not interested in disruption. She is interested in getting the armhole right.

The Lemaire years

Before ZUZWA, there was structure. Kowalska studied pattern-making at Studio Berçot in Paris, then spent eight years at Lemaire during the house's return to ready-to-wear in the early 2000s. She learned to cut a sleeve that allowed the arm to move forward without pulling the back yoke. She learned that a garment should never announce itself before the wearer enters the room.

This is visible in ZUZWA's tailoring. The jackets have a soft shoulder and a clean chest. The collar sits close to the neck without pressing. The pockets are functional, not decorative. Kowalska has said she thinks of a jacket as a tool, not a frame. The body does not serve the garment. The garment serves the day.

Her time at Lemaire also taught her what she did not want to make. She left in 2010, the year before the house partnered with Fast Retailing. The decision was not dramatic. She has said only that she wanted to work at a different scale, with a different relationship to time.

The first decade

ZUZWA's early years were marked by consistency, not growth. Kowalska showed twice a year in a rented studio near Bastille. The collections were small — 15 to 20 pieces — and the palette was narrow: grey, ecru, dark navy, occasionally a muted olive. The press called it minimalism. Kowalska called it editing.

The house found its audience among architects, editors, and a particular kind of customer who did not want to be read as fashionable. ZUZWA's trousers were wide and high-waisted, cut in wool cavalry twill or heavyweight linen. The shirts were oversized, with a dropped shoulder and a curved hem. Nothing clung. Nothing revealed. The clothes made space around the body, and that space felt deliberate.

By 2016, ZUZWA was stocked in six cities: Paris, Tokyo, New York, Los Angeles, Copenhagen, and Seoul. The house did not wholesale to department stores. Kowalska preferred small independents who understood the work — Nitty Gritty in Stockholm, Neighbour in Vancouver, Wellder in Tokyo. The margins were thin, but the image was protected.

Revenue in those years hovered around €3 million annually. The atelier employed eight people. Kowalska did not take outside investment. She has said she did not want to answer to a board, and she did not want to make clothes she would not wear herself.

The shift

In 2019, ZUZWA hired a commercial director for the first time. Claire Dumas had worked at Isabel Marant and A.P.C., and her brief was to expand distribution without expanding the line. The solution was accessories.

The house introduced a leather tote in 2020 — a simple, unstructured bag in vegetable-tanned cowhide with a single interior pocket. It retailed for €680 and sold out in three weeks. A smaller version followed six months later. By the end of 2021, bags and small leather goods accounted for 40% of revenue.

This was a practical decision, not a creative one. Kowalska has said in interviews that she does not think of bags as fashion. She thinks of them as containers. The ZUZWA tote is a container that happens to be well-made. It does not carry a logo. It does not signal anything except that the wearer needed a place to put a book, a wallet, and a water bottle.

The bags brought in a different customer — younger, less familiar with the ready-to-wear, more likely to discover the house through Instagram than through a boutique. This has changed the way ZUZWA is perceived. The house is no longer quite as quiet as it was. The tote has become recognisable, which is both useful and slightly uncomfortable. Kowalska has not commented publicly on this tension.

Where the house stands

ZUZWA now operates from a small showroom and atelier on Rue Saint-Maur. The team has grown to 14 people, including two full-time pattern-makers and a part-time archivist. Revenue in 2023 was approximately €8 million, driven largely by accessories and a small but growing e-commerce channel. The house remains independently owned.

The ready-to-wear has not changed significantly. Kowalska still shows twice a year, still works in a limited palette, still prioritises fit over novelty. The autumn 2024 collection included a double-breasted coat in boiled wool, a pleated trouser in wool gabardine, and a series of oversized shirts in brushed cotton. The silhouettes were familiar. The prices have increased — a jacket that cost €750 in 2015 now retails for €1,100 — but the construction is the same.

What has changed is visibility. ZUZWA is now featured regularly in the international press. The house has a mailing list of 40,000 subscribers. The Instagram account, managed by Dumas, posts twice a week — mostly product shots and atelier scenes, no styling, no campaigns. The tone is restrained, but the presence is consistent.

This has brought attention, and attention brings pressure. There are questions about whether ZUZWA will open its own retail space, whether it will expand into menswear, whether it will collaborate with a larger brand. Kowalska has not answered these questions directly. In a recent interview with System, she said only that she is not interested in becoming bigger. She is interested in becoming clearer.

The coat on the table

The ramie coat from the spring 2025 collection is still in production. It will be finished by hand, the seams pressed open, the hem left raw. Kowalska has said she likes an edge that can fray. It reminds the wearer that the garment is made, not manufactured.

This is the work ZUZWA continues to do — not fast, not loud, but deliberate. The house has found a sustainable scale, a clear voice, and a customer who does not need to be convinced. The coat will be ready in six weeks. It will cost €980. It will last ten years, maybe longer.