Yacht Crew to Global Brand: Luxury Crewwear from the French Riviera - Lu Kenhard

At 18, Lu arrived on the French Riviera with a plane ticket, a job on a yacht in Golfe Juan, and no idea that the industry would shape her entire life. The job lasted 24 hours. The career lasted decades. After years working as a yacht chef and travelling the world, yachting eventually brought her back to the South of France this time as a mother of twins and unable to return to life on board. What began as casually walking the docks with a suitcase of samples turned into a shop in Antibes, partnerships with international suppliers, and eventually her own uniform designs worn by crew across Europe. In this episode, we explore what it really takes to build a specialised business in the yachting capital of Europe. Lou shares how she set up a company in France without ever having run a shop before, navigated banks and bureaucracy with limited French, and built her client base from scratch by networking dock by dock. We talk about: the realities of launching a business in France the three-year runway every entrepreneur should prepare for French social charges and why hiring can stall growth the 3–6–9 commercial lease system the difference between selling products and understanding an industry from the inside Lu also opens up about a turning point that forced her to pause and rebuild her company on her own terms, this time slower, more strategic, and entirely her own. This is a conversation about industry knowledge, patience, reinvention, and why nothing in business happens overnight especially not on the French Riviera. This is the full-length episode. If you would like to listen to a condensed 28-minute version, it is available on Living the Dream – Radio Edition. Living the Dream: French Riviera Podcast Women and their professional journey while relocating to the South of France. https://livingthedreampodcast.com