With a portfolio of over 25,000 products ExaClair offers a comprehensive selection of premium office products, gifting stationery, art materials, craft products, educational activities, stickers and luggage. The company will be exhibiting at the London Stationery Show this May.
The Exacompta Clairefontaine group (or ExaClair as the UK subsidiary is known as) has 15 brands in its portfolio, including the Exacompta filing and desktop accessories and Clairefontaine and Rhodia notebooks. Its selection of premium fine art, inks and professional modelling products incorporate the BLOCKX, Jacques Herbin, G. Lalo, Brause and Plastiline brands. It also offers a variety of educational activities, stickers, handicrafts, clays and fabric painting through its Avenue Mandarine, Décopatch, Maildor, Cernit, Dawri and H Dupont ranges.
It’s a comprehensive product range that resonates with customers, as Lawrence Savage, UK marketing manager explains: “We’ve seen a growing following of customers who are passionate about the premium quality of our products. In particular, our 90gsm brushed vellum Clairefontaine paper is loved by pen fans globally. We also work closely with our trade customers to offer a comprehensive range of online and in-store merchandising and marketing collateral to suit their individual requirements.”
ExaClair is the only manufacturer within Western Europe to produce and process paper at its own paper mills. This has the advantage of fast lead times compared to many far eastern based distributors, as well as ensuring a high quality of product. “We have 95% of our products manufactured in France, the UK and other locations across Europe,” says Lawrence.
Sustainability is integral to the business, with several new products incorporating innovative recycled features. This includes stationery that is manufactured using card from production offcuts and treated with a vegetable-based coating for water resistance and durability. A growing number of ExaClair’s products are certified with other environmental accreditations, such as PEFC, Blue Angel and the World Land Trust.
“With modern production facilities being able to drive the cost of developing more sustainable manufacturing techniques down, we are continuing to see the augmentation of more ecological products and packaging materials across the group,” says Lawrence. “We’ve also incorporating more information into product labels and packaging, as well as developing a wider range of dealer product training reference materials, promotions, and online support. This includes several new brand videos, more influencer-based marketing initiatives, and in-store POS.”
Exacompta has recently been recognised for sustainability with a Silver award from EcoVadis, ranking them in the top 9% of all companies surveyed worldwide for overall CSR (corporate social responsibility) performance and the top 7% within the field of sustainable procurement.
As far as the London Stationery Show is concerned, Lawrence is looking forward to showing visitors the new Clairefontaine Invincible Étė (Invincible Summer) collection of premium stationery products, which feature patterns based on the popular cyanotype photographic printing.
He adds: “Alongside all the new product releases, we’ll also be profiling the Cernit range of premium modelling clays, which are amongst the latest additions to the Clairefontaine family.”
ExaClair is exhibiting on stand M400 at the London Stationery Show, 14 – 15 May at the Business Design Centre. Visitor registration is now open and is free for retailers, buyers, dealers and other resellers of stationery. It is not open to the general public.
