Ritalined is stimulating young creative talent (without Ritalin)

If you live in Paris, you’ve probably already seen the name pop up somewhere during fashion week. Ritalined. Nope, we’re not talking about your medication or concentration enhancer of choice, but the creative communication agency founded and led by Amandine Piango. Over the past few years, this self-described “daughter of light” has formed a family of fresh talents hailing from the realm of fashion, art and music. Following our recent Ritalined collaboration in Paris, Glamcult met up with Amandine to discuss her energizing endeavors.

Where and how was the name of your agency, Ritalined, born? And what does this signature represent?

Ritalined was born in Paris, after working with young designers at the LVMH Prize and Not Just a Label. My idea was to scout the best young designers, the best graduates. When I had to pick a name I first wanted to call it ‘overachievers’, but that was a bit too academic. Then I remembered that when I was studying in Chicago the students were taking Ritalin to improve their competences. So, the designers that I scout or represent are Ritalined without Ritalin; they are la crème de la crème of young talent.

Ritalined is all about raw and upcoming talent. How do you go about selecting the people you work with?

My scouting process is diverse. I usually scout at graduation shows; the best place to find raw talent and make them grow—plus, these talents still have that strong creativity that you can’t find anywhere else. There’s also scouting by word of mouth or through my travels; when I’m abroad I love going to local stores to see if they sell local talents. Also, I love being in touch with fashion councils to see if they some young talent.

I scout on instagram as well, but not that much, because most of the time on insta you have this staging that can misrepresent the pieces—but it’s still a good tool if you really understand what a young designer is. The young talents I work with are all super creative in their own way and have a story to tell. Having a message is super important to me.

Creating a sense of community, how does that work on a practical level? Can you tell us about the events you have hosted or plan to host?

Ritalined is a community of creative people. We have young photographers, stylists, artists, models, magazines, singers and DJs working with us—and we are growing together. Collaboration is the strength of our community; we think of each other, it’s like a family. When I lived in London my friends Coucou Chloe and SHYGIRL were the first people supporting me and playing all my parties.

When I host a Ritalined event, I like to organize the party in unexpected places with a hybrid line-up. For example, I did the last Ritalined party at Silencio and love the fact that it’s a super chic club and that we give it a little bit of young underground energy by bringing young, cool artists there.

I also organize parties for brands and magazines, and the next one will be for the two-year anniversary of Ritalined: Rilalined 2mg for Paris menswear in January and Ritalined 2,5mg in Copenhagen. The 0,5 parties always take place outside of Paris.

For young designers today, what do you consider the biggest obstacles on the road to success?

The money (for production) is one of the biggest obstacles. When you start your brand without any funds or investors, it’s complicated. And it’s rare to have an investor in the first season; they always come when you start having positive results in press or stores. Ritalined tries to help young designers grow by doing their communication, but also by consulting and creating buzz around them.

Another obstacle is staying creative; there’s the pressure to fit into the market to attract the buyer. But the secret is to not try to fit the market and, on the contrary, break it with new proposals. People are growing more and more tired of the same; we are looking for exclusivity and freshness.

Seeing today’s—often failing—fashion industry, what is the most important/urgent change you’d like to see happening?

We need to stop doing fast fashion and go to slow fashion, something more conscious. Quality over quantity! We have heard it over and over again—it’s what we’ve been saying for years—and the fashion industry knows. Plus, I would like to see more diverse young people in charge of big brands. Being young in that society means finding a way to survive. That is to say, young talents have the abilities to create differently.

Where do you see yourself 10 years from now?

I hope my PR agency will have best worldwide raw talents, and will become a reference as such. I’ll probably also be making movies in Africa and continue the fight against the global warming.