1948: The audacity of a Parisian tobacconist

It was in the heart of the capital on Boulevard Poissonière that one of the most extra ordinary ventures in leathergoods began. In the 1940's Jean Cassegrain, son of tobacconist took over his father's tobacco shop: at the time, "Au Sultan", as it was called, was greatly appreciated by Parisians and the Allied Forces.

But when the troops left Paris the shop faced the question of what to do with it's stocks of pipes so appreciated by the soldiers? Moving ahead, Jean Cassegrain decided to concentrate on leather coatings for cigarette cases. And, as a talented observer, he came up with a very inspired idee...

Birth of the legendary leather-bound pipe

He sought out the most talented leather craftmen in Paris and revolutionized the domain of tabacco accessories: he created the famous leather bound pipe clearly establishing its pedigree and gained his entry into the world of luxury goods with this future iconic object. In 1948, je expanded his collection and decided to set up his company specialized in accessories which he named JEAN CASSEGRAIN & COMPAGNIE. Bussines flourished: the Parisian high society raced to get their own high-quality accessory, whether leather bound, lacquered, or even personalized, like the Lady Pipe, created for spirited women with the making of a Geaoge Sand.

A Cassegrain signed Longchamp

Jean Cassegrain's leather-bound pipes all bore the Longchamp stamp from the onset. This was because the name Cassegrain had already been unsed commercially by one of his cousins, based in Orléans: the brand name was associated with the image of a mill (in reference to casse-grain, meaning crush-grain). In Jean Cassegrain's mind, this imige of a miller was immediately associated with one of the last Parisian mills, situated at the end of the Longchamp race course. As the esquestrian world is naturally linked to know-how and leather-binding in saddlery, the name Longcham jumped out as the pertinent choice.

An equestrian seal

All that remained to do was to create the Legendary signature of the fashion accessory house. Jean Cassegrain asked the illustrator Turenne Chevallereau to design an equestrian logo for an epic brand. Chevallereau drew a horse taking flight, imaginary and poetic. The emblem has been with the brand ever since.


From Tobacco to luggage

One afternoon in 1948, Jean Cassegrain was sitting at the terrace of a cafe and as he put out his last cigarette he mulled over his presentiment that accessories for smokers was on the decline and searched for new ideas to boost his company. This is when he decided to display leather wallets for men in his shop window. The day he did this he also set the milestone for a radical change of direction for Longchamp a,d leathergoods in general.

The first Longchamp bags

A success story: right next to small leathergoods, the boutique AU SULTAN proposed a garment-holder in supple lambskin,today considered as the ancestor to the Longchamp luggage range. Little by little, bags replaced smokers' items in the company's sales outlets. The chapter on leather-bound pipes came to a close (having produced almost a million pieces), but remains the symbol of a certain era.