Generations of Craftsmanship and Legacy

We had an inspiring conversation with Flip Oeyen, manager at FJA-Oeyen Mol, Belgium’s historical, high-quality duvet company. FJA-Oeyens’s history is worth mentioning! The company has been around for a while, but didn’t always look like what it is today, it started as a high-quality tailor shop way back in 1932. Through the innovative skills and visions of a strong man, and strong family ties, it grew into the fourth-generation duvet company it is today. 

 

The company withstood World War II and the personal challenges its founding father had to face. Its core product changed from tailormade clothing to Belgium’s first duvet company, but one value remained the same and became part of FJA-Oeyen’s core identity: high-quality. 

 

Today FJA-Oeyen Mol runs on a fourth-generation legacy, has 15 employees and is looking into a small-scale international expansion. “We have a customer base of 47,000 Belgian families. We want to expand internationally, but not without losing the personal relationship we have with our clients. I want to knowmy international client”, Flip Oeyen tells us. 

“FJA-Oeyen is a fourth-generation company,” Flip says. “There’s often a lot of pressure on new generations to maintain the company’s legacy and make it flourish, but that pressure is also part of the DNA of entrepreneurship. I believe that growing up in an entrepreneurial family, the spirit of entrepreneurship is naturally passed on. I can see this in myself. In our family, as children, we all had the opportunity to explore and go our own way, but we all chose to grow the family company. That’s a wonderful thing, it wasn’t forced, it happened organically”. 

 

“Over the 65 years that our company has been around as a duvet producer, we’ve seen huge changes: the Second World War, the landing of man on the moon, and the fall of the Berlin Wall, to name a few. We’ve been through huge shocks worldwide. Flowing through all of this, the most important change that we had to make as a company is the change in our marketing strategy,” Flip starts. “Our product is still the same: high quality, high value. But as the world goes through changes, both positive and negative, so the function and impact of our product changes, and a new story needs to be told that is adapted to its time”. 

 

“During good times we send an encouraging message and remind people of the positive things around them, we help them feel like they can take on the world. During harder times, we need certainties, and things to hold onto. We offer guarantees, talk about our legacy, show them our consistency, a hopeful story of heritage, and overcoming the ups and downs of life”. 

Flip: “Over the years, our communication has significantly changed. 65 years ago, we were the first in the Belgian market to produce qualitative duvets, since then a lot of other players have joined. That’s one of the challenges of entrepreneurship: when something works, a lot of people want to jump on the bandwagon. With more labels crowding the market, we had to prove what differentiates us. Over time, a duvet, has become a commodity, in our storytelling we can, of course, talk about technical product aspects, but it’s the emotions of our story that will convince a person. We have to give people the guarantee that ours is the best duvet, that is our responsibility as a company”. 

 

“It’s all about growing with your business,” Flip says. “When we’re truly dedicated to our growth, we have to take the psychological aspects of our humanity into account. I believe that, nowadays, psychology is very important. We have to build with a long-term vision”. 

 

Flip adds: “From the very beginning we need to say: “I always want to be one step ahead and I can only do that if I stay determined to offer good quality and if I have respect for those who came before me and whose shoulders I stand on, it's all at the origin. It's the origin of the sourced material, of the confection, of the story itself”. 

“Of the utmost importance today is sustainability. Sustainability from top to bottom, from the roots on up, where it all begins and ends: the sourced materials,” Flip says. “If you want to create a high-quality product with respect, it needs to start with respect. For us at FJA-Oeyen, respect is the preface of what we've been doing for 65 years, and that, I believe, makes us powerful. We don’t need to get into the game of constantly debating ‘the world needs this; the world needs that’ and trying to change our product to ever-changing needs and desires. We don’t need to contradict ourselves to sell more and make money, we are 100% convinced of the quality and respect of our product and business”. 

 

“Another hot topic these days is recycling, reusing, but that's where we've been for 65 years. We’re dedicated to creating a duvet that grows and expands with the family and the individual. Generation pieces, duvets that, four generations later, can still be enjoyed by new members of that same family. Pieces that can be used and reused,” Flip explains. 

 

“The life cycle of one of our duvets depends on how the duvet is used and treated, but our duvets are built to last a lifetime,” Flip says. “On average people come back to us every five to six years to have their duvet cleaned. We open the duvet, take the down out and clean it separately from the duvet cover. The down can last a lifetime, but the cotton coating ages and has a lifespan of about ten years. However, if today, in the clothing industry, we see that the average piece bought online today is not worn for even a month, I think that a ten-year lifespan for a duvet cover is very good!”. 

“FJA-Oeyen has always operated with a long-term vision, our quality lasts a lifetime, and so does our service. Sadly, what I notice in our industry, is that, nowadays, no one wants to offer service anymore,” Flip shares. “No one wants to engage in a dialogue with their client. No one wants a direct line that connects their customer to their office, to avoid having to be on a “boring” phone call. I don't see anyone who personally calls their customer and asks: how is my product treating you? There seems to be fear for the response. We pride ourselves in engaging with our clients, in asking them questions, in offering them information and service, even if people end up not even becoming customers”. 

“A company is not a person, but it is a personality. It’s people interacting and dealing with each other, not companies among one another. There are people behind a business, people are creating and producing a product, and people are buying and consuming the product, so in the end, it’s all about relationships”. 

Flip continues: “We’re all taught that in business, it’s survival of the fittest; the biggest, strongest companies survive, I don’t believe this to be true. I think real entrepreneurship lies in being flexible, being able to adapt”. 

 

“I don’t believe a company benefits from being a mastodon, big and ubiquitous, but standing on heavy, trembling legs, unable to move quickly when it needs to. I think it’s better to be agile, and flexible. It’s the skill to adapt that wins the game,” Flip shares.

 

“And that’s where service comes in, service plays the long game and is adaptable” Flip continues. ““It’s a shame that so few companies see the power of offering a service, there are so many business models that can be built around service”.

 

Flip adds: “Every company can offer a service to a large audience. Look at the big software companies, for example. I don't know of a single software that is delivered on a CD-ROM disk, installed once, bought once, and that's it. Everything is subscription-based, everything is a service. What makes all the difference is that it’s not a one-time transaction, it is a continued relationship. I believe every company can be a part of this “alternative” path”.

 

“Self-knowledge should be a key value,” Flip says. “In our current system we too often only concentrate on growth. With FJA-Oeyen, we want to expand but at the same time stay small. I believe that sometimes you grow by staying small”. 

 

Flip: “I’m referring to approach and philosophy. There is something very honest and beautiful about start-ups. A start-up is obliged to sponsor its customers and build close relationships with them, offering a high-quality service. They can’t say “I can't solve your problem, I’m too busy”, but this is the approach many companies have”. 

 

“I think that if business gets too busy, we should think about changing the company’s approach and structure,” Flip continues. “For us, at FJA-Oeyen, the moment we receive negative feedback that means that we’re getting too big and can no longer manage, it’s a reason to slow down. We want to stay small and maintain the quality and personal approach a small company offers”. 

 

Flip: “It’s also about continuously asking yourself: what makes you happy as an entrepreneur? Being an entrepreneur has many different facets, you can't have it all. We need to learn to ‘stay’, stay close to our values”. 

 

“Textile is very important, it’s all around us” Flip starts. “Compared to past times, changes have been following one another at a speed we’ve never seen before. What used to materialise over the course of a few generations, now happens in one generation. The great advantage of youth is that they’re used to this speed and know how to deal with it. They’re not afraid of doing something today and discovering that it no longer works tomorrow, they’re used to this”. 

 

“At the same time this speed can be a disadvantage”, Flip continues. “Forgetting to take your time, because for growth, time is of the essence. A lot of youngsters think that you need to know everything at 30, but so many beautiful things happen in your thirties, forties, sixties…”. 

 

“Older generations can bring calm because they’ve already discovered that growth, progress, ideas… need time. They’re surfing on long waves, and see the benefits of long-term visions,” Flip says. “Older generations have knowledge and experience to pass on. But in the end, I believe that different generations need each other”. 

 

Thank you Flip for sharing your stories and insights with us!