After a four-year hiatus due to the COVID lockdowns, the biennial hotel industry event Equip Hotel returned to Paris in November 2022 with a stylish and much-anticipated flourish. And nowhere was luxury, flamboyance and five-star quality more on show than at RKF Luxury Linen’s showstopper 1,200sq m booth at the event.
Housing a fully-equipped spa salon, three massage beds for delegates to sample, including a quartz bed treatment by a world champion masseur, a French Palace-style bedroom and bathroom suite complete with RKF’s bespoke haute couture organic linens and robes, and even a three-star Michelin dining area, the RKF event stand was a show highlight that no visitor wanted to miss.
Putting on a show
RKF founder and CEO Riadh Bouaziz says: “Everybody in the luxury hotel and wellness industries had been waiting for this show since 2018 after the enforced absence in 2020 due to the pandemic.
“So we really wanted to create an ‘extra wow’ experience and judging by the reaction from the designers, architects, CEOs, managers and wellness professionals who flocked to experience the stand every day and kept our team of 20 busy from morning to evening, the event was a huge success.”
As an energetic, pioneering and very hands-on CEO, Bouaziz isn’t a man who does things by halves – rather he likes to multiply standards by at least, he would no doubt affirm, 100-fold. The Equip Hotel booth represented his biggest investment so far (a sum he understandably does not wish to publicly disclose) in this type of industry event.
This huge investment made complete sense because, as Bouaziz says: “To really understand the RKF culture and universe it’s best to come and experience the quality, feel the quality of our award-winning fabrics, try on our designer spa and hotel bathrobes, lie on our luxury bed linen and see the depth of colour and quality of branding and monogramming we can bring to bespoke items.”
In spite of the global turndown caused by the pandemic, Bouaziz and RKF Luxury Linen have continued to keep extremely busy, innovating, developing, signing new deals with major industry names and forging exciting new partnerships throughout this challenging period.
“The RKF brand is now directly present in 85 countries around the world, and indirectly via our partnerships with leading luxury brands such as Guerlain and Dior, that reach extends to 135 countries worldwide,” said Bouaziz. “Added to this, we’ve equipped over 40,000 luxury properties worldwide with signature RKF linens.”
Added to RKF’s already impressive list of 15 patents and brands and 19 international awards, the French company this year received the 2022 H Pierantoni Innovation Prize for the Best Innovation in France related to the technologies behind its eco-friendly fabrics such as Timeless and Dreamsoft; and also won the Fashion, Lifestyle & Accessories category for its haute couture bathrobes in the international Global Architecture & Design Awards 2022.
While RKF has long been a leader in the development of technology-driven fabric, it has in more recent years put a much greater focus on creating garments for the spa and hospitality industries that feel much more attractive and fashionable to wear, while at the same time being comfortable, durable and easy to care for.
“The spa bathrobe is a prime example of something that has always been functional and utilitarian, but not at all comfortable or flattering for spa-goers to wear. It’s very unforgiving for different body types and sizes. So the launch of our couture bathrobes has set a new standard for the industry,” says Bouaziz.
RKF launches Dressoft for winter
But RKF does not intend to stop at stylish bathrobes. At Equip Hotel, the company launched its latest evolution in spa garments in the form of a new range called DresSoft using its Dreamsoft fabric.
DresSoft loungewear includes comfortable trousers and tops, fitted t-shirts and a slimline, fitted coat.
“These eco-friendly garments can be comfortably worn both indoors and out and protect against the cold, making them ideal for cooler environments. Much better than draughty bathrobes!” says Bouaziz.
“The jacket is so stylish that it could even transition into evening or more formal wear paired with trousers or jeans. We offer a summer collection in a lighter fabric, or a winter collection using a double layer of Dreamsoft. There are items for women, men and children in the new range.”
With 2023 just around the corner, it feels like RKF – whose original fabrics factory has been operating in France for 188 years – is really only just getting started on this ‘new direction’ of eco-friendly, haute couture spa and hospitality garments.
“We have so much more to come next year, with a new patent, new haute couture industry workwear and an even more extravagant presence at Paris fashion week,” says Bouaziz.
“We continue to work with the biggest and most luxurious brands in the industry, including Jumeirah Burj Al Arab, Mandarin Oriental, Aman Resorts, St Regis, Fairmont and Raffles and look forward to unveiling our finished work on so many huge wellness projects in Saudi Arabia which will take shape over the next few years.”
He concludes: “As a company we always like to think outside of the box, push boundaries and delight our partners and customers. Watch this space in 2023 for many more exciting innovations to come.”
More: www.RKF.fr
