Drapeau Noir was founded in 2013 by Nicolas Barbier, a lawyer who left his career to make clothes, drawing on the American counterculture and biker imagery he grew up admiring in 1980s Paris. The label builds men's essentials from rigorously sourced fabrics, Portuguese oxfords, Japanese satins, linen-cottons, working season after season with the same family-run workshops across France, Italy, Portugal, England, and Japan. Its name, meaning "black flag," nods to the anarchist spirit and freedom Barbier wanted the brand to embody.