As a consultant, Laura Herrero Earl spent 14 years traveling the world, especially through Southeast Asian countries. She ended up falling in love with Bali, a paradise island in Indonesia. “It is my favorite place in the world, an island where there is a lot of creativity, where you can find unique items of clothing,” says Herrero. After her work as a consultant and back in Barcelona, Herrero opted to turn her passion for fashion, specifically Balinese fashion, into her new occupation.
Together with her husband, Steven Dijhuizen, in September 2018 the entrepreneur founded Black Book The Label, an online store specializing in imported clothing from Bali. The success of the business led them to open a physical store in Sitges, where the company is headquartered, in May 2021. The reception was so positive that after just over a year, in August 2022, the co-founders dared to launch his own brand of Balinese-style clothing, made on the island of Bali itself.
Currently, Black Book The Label sells both its own designs and those of other brands. The main buyers of the online store – which accounts for half of the sales – are from France, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. The Sitges establishment contributes the other half of the billing. This year, the owners plan to start selling through third-party stores as well, primarily beach destination boutique stores. By 2024, they aspire to enter luxury department stores and open more of their own stores in destinations such as Barcelona, Ibiza and Madrid.
Herrero highlights the firm's commitment to sustainability, by using natural fabrics and making in artisan workshops, as well as with social causes. "For each piece sold, we allocate one euro to a social cause through an NGO," says the entrepreneur.
Black Book The Label garments are designed in Sitges and made in Bali in small batches to maintain the handmade and exclusive character of the pieces. Natural fabrics are used, such as Ecovero viscose and cotton certified by the Better Cotton Initiative. To reduce environmental impact, the dye is applied by hand and manufacturing techniques that pursue energy efficiency are used.
