Mathis Benali
male · 27 ans · Single
Oberkampf, Paris (11th arrondissement), France
Barista and vintage retail assistant; tattoo apprentice · multiple short term contracts and shifts
"If it looks like an ad, I’m already out."
About
Mathis is a 27 year old Parisian of Algerian heritage living between Oberkampf and Belleville, building a precarious creative career through coffee shifts, vintage retail, and a tattoo apprenticeship while treating Instagram like a public portfolio. He hunts most of his wardrobe through secondhand circuits, then punctuates it with a few scene approved statement pieces, discovering brands through friends, micro communities, and IRL spots rather than classic ads. He wants to look effortless and independent, but constantly negotiates between unstable income, high Paris rent pressure, and the need to invest in tools, clothing, and social presence to be taken seriously. He converts when a brand earns cultural credibility through artist proof, tight curation, and distribution that feels native to his scene, not like marketing.
Power
Why is this persona strategic?
Mathis is strategic because he sits at the intersection of urban youth culture and low income reality: he influences peers through aesthetic leadership, but he is highly selective and rejects overt persuasion. If you can win him, you gain an organic gateway into Paris micro scenes where taste spreads through DMs, pop ups, and venue based word of mouth rather than paid media. He is also high frequency in secondhand and specialty venues, making him reachable in specific places and moments where cultural credibility is built.
What defines his socio-economic situation?
16.3%
of clothing purchases for 18-34 year olds are secondhand, making his Vinted first habit feel normal inside his cohort
IFM baromètre 2025, 18-34Works customer facing shifts in coffee and retail, with precarious scheduling and limited upward mobility without a breakthrough in tattooing.
Low annual income consistent with irregular hours and entry level service work in Paris; lifestyle relies on shared housing and careful trade offs.
Completed lycée level education and dropped out of art school; skills are self taught and validated through portfolio and apprenticeship rather than diplomas.
Shares rent and space in a dense Paris neighborhood; uses a small corner as a studio for drawing, tattoo practice, and content production.
Room in a shared flat in Paris 11 with utilities split.
Groceries plus coffee and occasional cheap eats during shifts.
Mostly secondhand; occasional statement piece if it is culturally validated.
Natural wine bars, openings, small gigs, occasional club entry.
Métro and occasional Vélib’.
Irregular; often redirected to tools or a key wardrobe piece.
Rare; short trips tied to friends, festivals, or visiting family.
Basic pharmacy, occasional dental or check ups deferred when money is tight.
Phone plan, Spotify, a couple of niche zines or newsletters.
- Tools and supplies for tattoo practice
- A few statement wardrobe items that signal taste
- Coffee and social places that keep him in the scene
- Full price fast fashion
- Overtly branded luxury
- Paid ads disguised as culture
Avoids debt and monthly commitments; prefers flexible spending and will delay purchases until a drop or the right secondhand listing appears.
What drives his decisions?
63%
of the time he consumes social platforms daily as a lurker rather than a poster, using IG as reference more than expression
Baromètre du numérique 2024, utilisateurs RS- Trust is earned through artist proof and community presence
- He prefers small drops and limited runs to mass availability
- He respects brands that show process, sourcing, and real people behind the work
- He will share organically if it makes his own identity look sharper
What cultural context shapes his expectations?
1h03
of the average daily internet time is dedicated to social networks and messaging, but he skews toward visual inspiration use
Médiamétrie 2024, FranceMathis embodies the Paris micro scene dynamic: low income but high taste, selective consumption, and constant self curation. He uses secondhand as both necessity and creative resource, then anchors his look with a few culturally legible pieces. He is present in the right places and online feeds, and he treats credibility as something earned through craft and proximity rather than claims.
In Paris creative circles, cultural legitimacy often matters more than money. People borrow codes, remix references, and use places and objects as signals, but they punish anything that feels like forced branding.
This area runs on coffee counters, openings, and late bars where people trade recommendations. Being seen matters, but so does acting like you do not care, which creates a constant performance of nonchalance.
Direct promotion is treated as naive. Recommendations need to come through peers, credible artists, or venues that already carry status in the neighborhood.
Secondhand layering with one new statement item · Natural wine bars and small openings · Micro tattoo flash drops · Scandinavian style coffee counters · SoundCloud digger culture
Obvious influencer ads · Over designed streetwear with heavy logos · Generic fast fashion hauls · Corporate LinkedIn hustle posts
Micro scene newsletters and zines · Hybrid cafés with vinyl or gallery programming · Small brand collabs with local tattoo artists · AI assisted moodboarding for visuals
What are his key lifestyle behaviors?
24 sessions/day
on mobile for 15-24 year olds shows the fragmentation of attention that matches his constant feed checking habit
Médiamétrie 2024, 15-24Grooming is minimal but precise because appearance is part of his professional credibility in tattoo and coffee.
Daily basics, monthly haircut
Simple skincare · Haircut with clean lines · Fragrance sampling
Look put together without looking polished · Signal taste through details
Art and subculture are his main social infrastructure, he attends openings to stay visible and learn codes.
1-2 openings per week when energy allows
Gallery openings · Illustration · Tattoo flash events
IRL scene presence · Instagram recap and saves
Always on headphones, music is both mood regulation and identity reinforcement.
French rap · UK garage · Ambient
Booba · PNL · Vald
Spotify daily · SoundCloud digging late at night
His free time is production time, sketching, tattoo design, and moodboarding.
Illustration practice · Tattoo flash drawing · Pinterest moodboarding
Instagram micro communities · Tattoo apprentice circles
Social Life
His relationships and opportunities come through the scene, with nights that oscillate between quiet bars and high energy events.
Specialty coffee shops
Cheap eats spots
Natural wine bars
Small clubs
DJ bars
Signature
He curates an understated Paris streetwear look built on secondhand finds and one scene validated piece, then documents it like a working artist.
What media does he trust?
4h21
spent online per day by 15-24 year olds frames the intensity of his always on cultural consumption
Médiamétrie 2024, 15-24Where does he shop?
60%
of secondhand clothing sales in France are attributed to Vinted, reinforcing his habit of hunting there first
La Croix 2025, marché seconde mainSecondhand is not only budget logic, it is also how he builds a signature look without looking like everyone else.
Coffee shops double as professional identity spaces, not just consumption places.
Electronics are treated as work tools, not status objects, unless they affect sound and image.
His alternative shopping includes cultural infrastructure: walls, bars, and micro venues that function like media.
How do we reach him effectively?
29%
of social users share or comment daily, so he is hard to activate with engagement bait and more responsive to credible prompts
Baromètre du numérique 2024, utilisateurs RSeffectiveness
In scene and visible, credibility comes from place and artist selection.
Product validation through expertise and review culture, not aspirational luxury.
Works only if it looks like native scene documentation, not brand polish.
Coffee and culture overlap; invites the right crowd without feeling commercial.
effectiveness
Useful when he is in intent mode, but not identity building.
Understated, specific, and culturally literate communication. Show process, names, and provenance. Use real people, real places, and let the product exist without hype language.
Anything that sounds like a campaign slogan, tries too hard to be cool, or uses generic claims about authenticity. Avoid forced youth slang and overly polished influencer scripts.
How does he move through the buying journey?
25%
of 18-24 year olds spend more than 5h per day on screens, meaning he is reachable but quickly fatigued by noise
Arcep 2025, 18-24Awareness
"Who is wearing this and why is it showing up here?"
- Friend story tag
- Seen at a pop up
- Artist repost
- IRL venues
- ✕ Looks like paid hype
- ✕ No cultural context
Consideration
"Is this actually good and will it age well?"
- Process content
- Trusted creator review
- Touching it in person
- YouTube
- Instagram saves
- Word of mouth
- ✕ No proof of craft
- ✕ Hard to verify sizing or quality
Decision
"Can I get it without feeling played?"
- Clear price and stock
- PayPal option
- Pickup or point relais
- Vinted style resale logic
- Direct purchase page
- ✕ Limited trusted payment options
- ✕ Shipping costs
- ✕ Too much pressure
Loyalty
"Do they keep doing things that respect the scene?"
- Consistent drop quality
- Community events
- Artist continuity
- ✕ Over expansion into mass market
- ✕ Collabs that feel random
Advocacy
"I will share only if it strengthens my own credibility."
- Organic repost from artist
- Seen by friends at the right place
- Genuine compliment on the item
- Instagram stories
- IRL recommendations
- ✕ Feels like advertising
- ✕ Brand asks too directly
How do we convert him?
1,969€
monthly median living standard for 18-29 year olds anchors his price sensitivity and preference for secondhand value
Observatoire des inégalités 2025, 18-29Win him through cultural legitimacy rather than persuasion. Limited drops, artist collaborations, and distribution through credible Paris venues convert him better than performance marketing. Because he lives on secondhand and scene recommendations, the best strategy is to make the product discoverable through micro communities and then easy to buy through familiar payment and delivery flows.
strategy
Minimal, concrete, and visually strong. Speak in specifics: materials, process, places, who made it, where it is available. Let him opt in rather than pushing urgency.
- "Designed with an artist you already know, available for one weekend in Oberkampf"
- "No logo talk, just materials and fit, photographed in real Paris locations"
- "Buy it used, resell it easily, keep it in the loop"
- "Drop calendar and stock list, no hype language"
- Overt influencer scripting or fake street casting
- Generic sustainability claims without proof
- Overpricing without cultural justification
- Too many emails, too much urgency language
Sources
- 1. Revenu salarial − France, portrait social - Insee (2024, moins de 25 ans / 25-39 ans)
- 2. Niveau de diplôme de la population − France, portrait social (2024, 25-34 ans)
- 3. Les écarts de revenus liés à l'âge (2025, 18-29 ans)
- 4. L'Année Internet 2024 (temps en ligne, réseaux sociaux)
- 5. Baromètre du numérique 2024 : les principaux résultats (RS usage, passif vs actif)
- 6. Le baromètre du numérique - édition 2025 - Arcep (temps d’écran 18-24)
- 7. Vinted premier vendeur de vêtements en France (IFM, Joko, 2024-2025)
- 8. Étude IFM relayée: 16,3% seconde main chez les 18-34 ans
- 9. Impact Report Vinted: 40% des membres en France garde robe majoritairement seconde main
- 10. Top 10 des influenceurs mode homme (2024)
- 11. Découvrez le top des influenceurs streetwear sur Instagram (Findly)
- 12. Top 20 influenceurs sneakers (Influence4You)
- 13. 3 chaînes Youtube à suivre si tu aimes la culture streetwear (Vinceeh, La Routine, Flub)
- 14. Roaming Paris' Oberkampf Neighborhood: cafés, bars, wine spots
- 15. Les meilleurs bars à vins nature de Paris (inclut Paris 11)
- 16. Urban Vintage Paris: friperie à Paris 11
- 17. Time Out Paris: friperies et boutiques vintage (Paris)
- 18. Références vidéo: La Routine YouTube
- 19. Références vidéo: TISSU YouTube
- 20. Digital 2025: France (DataReportal)
What social content does he engage with?
68%
of 18-24 year olds have consulted platform terms or rules, matching his cautious and skeptical stance toward platforms and brands
Baromètre du numérique 2024, 18-24consumption
Curates grid and stories selectively, DMs for dating and scene logistics, saves references for tattoos and fits.
Multiple check ins daily, saves heavy, posts as portfolio
Tattoo flash · Streetwear fits · Coffee culture · Gallery openings
consumption
Builds boards for tattoo motifs, typography, and outfit silhouettes.
Several sessions per week, deep moodboard sessions at night
Tattoo references · Typography · Outfit silhouettes · Interiors
Consumes micro trend edits and niche style content without engaging much.
Scrolls in bursts, mostly late night
Streetwear edits · Tattoo process clips · Music snippets
Uses long form reviews and culture videos to validate purchases and learn technique.
1-3 sessions per week for deep dives
Sneaker and streetwear reviews · Tattoo content · Music documentaries
Discord (Occasional, mostly for niche communities)