We recently connected with Ingrid Lung and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Ingrid thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s the kindest thing anyone has ever done for you?

My first exposure to the fashion world and its creativity was when I was a child during my Primary School years. My dad was very tall with a stocky build. Imagine a Bavarian lumberjack with the shoulders of a semi-professional swimmer. He looked like a gentle giant to me. He truly was the rock (or mountain) of our family! But it was difficult for him to find clothes or shoes that would fit him from standard read-to-wear shops. He also loved very nice fabrics. My dad never wore denim, not even a single day in his life. But he would get overly passionate about what he would see as “noble” fabrics such as beautiful velvet, tweed, or wool. For work, he would have suits made to measure by tailors especially for him.

One day, he found a couple of tailors in the old town where we lived in France. Their “atelier” was just fifty meters away from my school and they conveniently became my “babysitters”, keeping me after school. It’s been one of the best things that’s happened to me and one of my best childhood memories. This couple of tailors were husband and wife. In their elder years already, they could have easily been my grandparents. But what I remember the most about them was their kindness. They have literally been the kindest people I’ve ever met and I wish they were still alive and I could just pop there for a cup of coffee now.

I was totally fascinated by their workshop full of fabrics, giant tables where the magic of their craft would take place, pieces of suits that were semi-finished, pens, scissors, chalks, rulers, erasers. You name it. The giant room with wooden panels where they would work every day looked like a treasure trove to me, or an Aladdin’s cave. But what I loved the most in it was their fabric swatches. They would look like big chunky catalogues and I just loved turning the pages of fabric one by one as if they were page from a book. Every single page would look different in texture, colour, pattern. Every single page was a discovery, and I loved to feel them and look at them.

Every day, my adopted couturiers would allow me to tear off one of these “fabric pages” to craft one of my very own creations. And invariably, every single day, I would create a small handbag made of these fabric swatches, sewing the pieces together and finishing it with a big button. Our childhood years truly matter in shaping us and who we are and the kindness of this couple of tailors has been the greatest gift. One say you always remember how people make you feel. This was my introduction to fashion – through kindness.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’m the Co-Founder of Treun House Atelier, or TREUN, a luxury fashion brand dedicated to create global positive planet impact.

We started to set up the brand during Covid. It was a time when we all experienced a transition from formal-wear to casual-wear. My Co-Founders and I all experienced the years of very formalwear at work, something we didn’t want to go back to. But at the same time, we wanted to be able to wear clothes that were more than just comfortable so that you can wear them anywhere, from the boardroom to wherever you hang.

So we created a vision for garments that would be the perfect middle between formalwear and casualwear – something much more relaxed and comfortable than a suit, but still very stylish and with tailoring elements. The clothes are made with never before seen luxury fabrics and unique design details that elevate a basic like a sweatshirt from overly simple to utterly stylish, and even obsessive! Our Legacy Collection was born, and we’re looking at launching the first styles very soon now.

Now, we’ve always wanted to go way beyond simply offering beautiful clothes to our customers. Fashion has an incredible creative power and we’ve always considered using it as a vehicle for change to do good in the world right from the start. This is why we have incorporated three other pillars in our business model: Sustainability, Philanthropy and Technology.

SUSTAINABILITY is embedded into everything we do. We are developing our own proprietary fabric blends from the most sustainable natural fibers, adhering to our mission of circularity and to differentiate from what the rest of the market offers. We will be launching our “Renewed Life Platform” repurposing luxury deadstock designer fabrics for our hats. Even for our packaging, we are looking at circular solutions such as seaweed technology to ensure it can go back to nature. Our garments will be made to order, something still very unique as a standard in the market but it makes such a difference to be more sustainable!

PHILANTHROPY sits at the heart of our brand philosophy as we aim to make the world a better place. This decade has been dubbed “The Critical Decade” by scientists in light of the triple crises of climate change, biodiversity loss, and waste & pollution. As a response, we partner with foundations & charities to help create critical social & environmental change needed in 4 Planet Impact Areas: 1) Soil/Land, 2) Oceans/Water, 3) Wildlife/Biodiversity, 4) Humanitarian/Human Welfare – empowering our customers to support meaningful causes in an easy way through the sales of our luxury collections.

TECHNOLOGY is also a very exciting aspect of what we offer and differentiates us. We offer an elevated digital shopping experience right from the comfort of your phone. Each order is made-to-measure in our customer’s own body measurements thanks to our body mapping + virtual dressing room technology. It is very inclusive too as we literally make for anyone in any size. We also offer customizable design options so we can tailor each style to your own preferences and personality. And it all happens in a minute with a few clicks! Plus each garment comes with a Digital ID for complete transparency, telling you its story from farm to fiber to fashion and what to do with the product at the end of its use.

Can you share one of your favorite marketing or sales stories?

Prior to co-founding TREUN, I worked at global premium cookware brand Le Creuset for two decades in marketing and communication. At some point I was in charge of one of our product categories – Stoneware. When I started it was still a very small product category for the brand but I’ve always thought it had a lot more potential.

At the time the product category only had a few baking dishes, ramekins and utensil crock. It was perhaps 10 items maximum, not a very developed range. So I started by dividing the product category into four segments: cookware, preparation, storage and serveware, and I created a whole host of new products for each to grow the category and meet more consumer needs.

This is when I proposed to create the first Le Creuset Mug to fit the new serveware segment. At the time I was based in the UK. It is of course a big tea market, but coffee was also exploding around that time (late 2000’s / early 2010’s) with the new Nespresso machines. When I proposed to create a mug, one of the top company directors told me I was crazy and that it would never work. The rationale was that the market was already flooded with mugs (a true fact) at very cheap price points (a true fact too). If we were to launch a mug we would be a lot more expensive, nobody was expecting us and contrary to the cookware we were not able to offer a lot of functional benefits.

I had a different perspective and point of view. Le Creuset was very well-known and loved for its colorful cast iron cookware and had been in the market for over 80 years. I believed our existing and new customers alike were ready for more to add to their collection and a Le Creuset mug, although significantly more expensive than competitors, would be a good entry price point into the brand and a good add-on for fans around the world.

So I started designing our new mug with well-known ceramic designers, Queensberry Hunt (they have done a lot of work with Sir Terrence Conran or the Habitat shops). We went for a simple “builder mug” design, robust but very ergonomic, with raise lettering underneath the handle, and we created them in all the favourite and best-selling Le Creuset colors. With the trends in the market for tea and coffee, we decided to launch three sizes – for espresso, cappuccino and tea.

Despite the doubts thrown at me by senior management, I was projecting the launch as a BIG launch. A small test launch was not something I ever considered. Because a mug is a small item, I wanted to create eye-catching displays playing on volume and color choice with lots of mugs. So I created floor display units that could house 50 to 100 mugs at once, plus carousels for countertops. I also created giant mugs and giant teapots to create visual impact in window displays or at events (the sales team was half filled with joy, half with concern as they had to transport them in their cars!).

Our program launched. We had no idea and no certainty if it would work. It was definitely a new territory for us. It was a risk too as we had to invest in a lot of stock and buy it in advance due to long lead-times. But as the story goes it was a resounding success. The Le Creuset mug became the company best-seller, not only in the UK but all over the world. People loved our array of colorful mugs. It was an item that could be part of their everyday, very versatile. We even had comments from many people that they loved the thickness of the stoneware and that it was keeping their drinks hotter for longer.

The success was a testament of the power of the Le Creuset brand loved by generations and generations, our network of ambassador stores who had supported the brand for decades, and the incredible work of our sales team who’ve been supportive above and beyond (even with these giant mugs in their cars!). It also happened at a time when the market trends were more than favourable with the explosion of the Nespresso machines, everybody was buying one, and people were expanding on their drinking habits with new hot beverages, adding coffee to their tea repertoire.

The company director who had told me our mugs would never sell came to me a few years later to say he owed me an apology. It was all in very good spirit. But I will remember this launch and its lessons forever. If you believe in an idea and prepare it well with all of your support system, go for it!

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

When I left Le Creuset, two years ago in 2021, I had lobbied internally for implementing a sustainability program for three years but things were not progressing. Leaving was hard but at the same time necessary with a change in management. It was also a big change in my life as I had worked there for two decades, but I decided to pivot completely and create my own strategic and creative communication agency, The Earth Agency, with the idea to apply my marketing and communication skills to help sustainable brands wanting to make a difference in the world.

I’ve always had a passion for our planet, its beauty and diversity, ever since I was a child. I could see environmental issues growing exponentially and we have now reached quite a critical point in terms of planet boundaries. I wanted to dedicate my expertise, time and energy to work with people proposing new solutions via their products and services. Over the past two years, I’ve been able to work in different areas from the restoration of global ecosytems, to electric vehicles, clean beauty, regenerative agriculture, or wildlife conservation… and it has been a blast!

There are people leading incredible projects, with our planet and the well-being of all lives in mind, and for me it has been an incredible journey when I’ve been able to learn about different sectors and expand my perspective, network and connections. This is also when I met my other Co-Founders at TREUN, and the rest is history. We have a very good project with a clear vision and we’re ready to make a difference in the fashion world and beyond.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://treunhouse.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/treunhouseatelier/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/treunhouseatelier/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/treun-house-atelier/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@treunhouseatelier7331