It has become a habit in recent years: every time the feverish time of the January sales comes around, the Hast team launches an operation where it is about taking care of yourself and your clothes rather than buying them at will. What matters is to cherish your pieces and make sure they last, sometimes for life. This time, we have therefore chosen to partner with the brand Les Petits Bidons. A young Parisian brand that is successfully developing a range of natural laundry detergents, that is to say purged of the usual supermarket chemical derivatives, which has the good taste not to turn our rags into things that scratch the body and pill in an instant. The deal: for an order on our site of at least one hundred euros, a one-liter bottle of Petits Bidons, with Rosemary, is offered to you.
The premises of Les Petits Bidons are located somewhere in a row of offices set up not far from the Place de la République in Paris. A nursery crossed by spiral staircases where a thousand ideas are churned out per minute in box-shaped rooms. An enthusiastic hive, full of desire and life. On the top floor of this strange place is a high glass roof from which some remains of Christmas decorations tumble. This is where Cyril Neves, 32 years old and founder of Les Petits Bidons, receives us with a winking smile.
What is your relationship with clothing?
Let's say it's important. It's the first impression we leave on people. I'm aware that my appearance puts me in a situation, that it prepares my interlocutors for the interaction we're going to have, whether it's professional or personal. I'm quite vigilant about it, even if there have already been some big failures. For a long time, I had a very conformist style, as if I wanted to drown in the crowd. I also had a period where I wore tight pants. Fortunately, I came back from that! Over time, I became more comfortable, with a more assertive style.
I don't necessarily go looking for the trendy piece, the one that will look good every time. I rather like to wear things that correspond to my state of mind at the moment.
How would you describe your style?
It's actually quite simple! Jeans , sneakers and a t-shirt over which I put a shirt when it's a bit colder. In my closet, I have a lot of basics and floral shirts for the summer. I think it's nice to have a few pieces that twist the style, that create a contrast. Sometimes I find vintage clothes when I go on a trip. I have shirts with big patterns printed on them. I have one with a very prominent lemon, for example. I also have an old garage mechanic's outfit that I use as an overshirt. But I don't go out on big extravagant outings.
Does your appearance change when it comes to being in a work setting?
I worked for a long time in marketing and sales at L'Oréal and Danone, fields where dress is very codified and marked. Many of my colleagues wore suits every day. This uniform drove me crazy. I found this outfit uninteresting in relation to the value that we have to bring to work. It's supposed to bring a certain credibility but deep down, it's nothing more than uninteresting conformism. I've always tried to distance myself from this look. At the time, I would come to the office in jeans and sneakers and people would make comments about it. Today, I still show up like that. I'll never mind going to meetings in a t-shirt, without a jacket. I don't even ask myself the question. I just have to be elegant in this way, with solid, uniform tones. It's simple and it's not too eye-catching. I really prefer that people pay attention to what I say and the messages I want to convey rather than my clothes being noticed. I don't wear flowery shirts to work, for example.
How do you care for your clothes?
I am lucky to have always had a washing machine at home. I only go to the dry cleaners when I need to wash a suit for a wedding. I take care of the rest. Probably because I don't have any items in my closet that require special care. I also make sure to buy clothes that are easy to care for. For reasons of simplicity but also cost. I very rarely wash my jeans and I try to air my sweaters well, for example. I have never washed my clothes too much, really. It is important not to waste water for nothing. For each wash, you have to be careful about the amount of detergent you use. If there is not enough, it loses effectiveness. If you use too much, when rinsing, it will not completely drain out, and there may be residue on the clothes that can cause skin reactions or damage the garment. The temperature is also important. For a question of efficiency, but also of energy consumption. The more we wash at low temperatures, the less energy we consume. With Les Petits Bidons, we are trying to develop detergents that can remain effective at low temperatures.
Exactly, how did you become interested in these laundry stories?
My previous jobs allowed me to learn about the ecological issues of food and cosmetics. I became interested in the compositions of different products, their impacts on health and the environment. Little by little, I also started trying to develop a homemade laundry detergent. I simply looked for recipes on the Internet. Mixtures with Marseille soap flakes or black soap, white vinegar which has the effect of a softener, and water, which is cooked in a saucepan to obtain a more or less dubious texture. I tested several types of recipes, there were several hiccups. At the same time, I became interested in the ingredients of commercial, traditional laundry detergents, and I realized that they were not so easy to identify. Certainly because they are not very good. I found it crazy that there was no such thing as really clean and effective to use. I ended up approaching laboratories, giving them precise specifications and we developed recipes together.
It is not normal that after three weeks in a closet, a garment still smells strongly of laundry detergent.
The Petits Bidons approach highlights in particular the importance of the relationship with the skin. Why?
Saying that a detergent is natural does not mean that it has no impact on the skin. The formula bases generally used in detergents are allergenic. Because of petroleum derivatives stuck in the soap. It was therefore necessary to develop a formula that could go to sensitive skin. Pay attention to dermatological control, as they say. So we removed these derivatives and molecules from our formulas. And then we wanted to work with natural fragrances. Not synthetic fragrances like there are in traditional detergents.
You explain in this title that "clean has no smell". What do you mean?
The customer is conditioned in a marketing way. We always think that for our clothes to be clean, they have to smell like a sea breeze or something like that for a long time. We try to fight this idea. It is not normal that after three weeks in a closet, a garment still smells strongly of laundry. It means that there is something left in it and, in this case, that the garment can potentially attack the skin. We work with natural perfumes, which are more volatile, which fade quickly, but which do not affect the garment or the skin.
Furthermore, your detergents do not contain palm oil, whereas this is the case for most other brands...
In all detergent products, we find palm oil. It is chosen for reasons of cost and ease of use. And it is a real problem: it is a production that causes the deforestation of entire territories, particularly in Africa. We have therefore taken the step of developing our products without palm oil. It is very complicated and more expensive. We use a base of sunflower oil and also olive oil.
How do you avoid damaging your shirts when you machine wash them?
Actually, there is no risk. You just have to wash shirts of the same color, at the temperature recommended on the labels. In these cases, nothing will happen. You should not wash a wool shirt at 50 degrees!
Finally, why did you choose to collaborate with Hast?
For some time now, I had been paying attention to the fair practices of a series of French clothing brands, with good ideas for sourcing and pricing. In a way, with Les Petits Bidons, I wanted to take over the rest of the clothing's life. Brands create good clothes and Les Petits Bidons make sure that their maintenance is clean and natural. When Hast approached us to think about a collaboration, I jumped at the chance.