TRENDS

Fashion collections these days are acknowledging the damage done to the environment by the garment industry. British designer Stella McCartney was already setting an example in the 2000s with ready-to-wear made from eco-friendly materials and accessories in vegetable leather. Others followed suit: Veja in 2005 with ethical sneakers, Levi’s® with eco-responsible jeans (made from cottonized rain-fed hemp), and many more. In Marseille, Atelier Bartavelle, Le Stockholmsyndrome and Anaïs J Créations have gone for slow fashion. Overproduction and the use of ecologically harmful chemicals make fashion the second most polluting industry after oil. We buy too many clothes made of the wrong materials, creating waste and the problem of recycling it all. But some brands and designers are taking action and finding eco-friendly solutions with existing materials.

RECYCLING: TRANSFORMING AND CREATING
Transforming, adapting and re-using materials ad infinitum instead of discarding them. Alexis Giannotti in Monaco makes knitwear from coffee ground fibre, turning a waste material into a luxuriously soft yarn. Now he’s planning for a line of accessories in coffee fibre. Longchamp’s Green District bags are made from econyl®, a nylon fibre made from waste plastic, paired with quality leather. This spring, Carel will have a new line of 100% recycled plastic tote bags. Rombaut has partnered up with Melissa to offer a limited edition of footwear made entirely from used nylon waste (available in March, from rombaut.com). Faguo offers a whole wardrobe of eco-responsible clothing and has just launched a sneaker with a sole made from tennis balls recovered from tennis clubs. Delcasso, based in Nice, recycles offcuts of the striped awning canvas to make bags and accessories. The brand recently opened a shop-in-shop at Galeries Lafayette in Cap 3000, under the shop’s Go For Good label.

DOWNCYCLING: CUTTING DOWN ON WASTE
Recovering discarded ‘end-of-life’materials to make new objects or garments. Sessùn (designer Emma François) launched its Recollection project in 2020 to collect “old” jeans and re-use them in a capsule collection. Another French company collects wool, spins it into new yarn and knits limited-edition woollies. Sézane, a B-Corp-certified brand, makes three-quarters of its ready-to-wear from organic cotton, recycled or certified materials or vegetable-tanned leather. It collects old jeans for recycling.

UPCYCLING, FOR A CIRCULAR ECONOMY
Upgrading an obsolete garment or material to make something beautiful. Marine Serre in Paris set an example in 2016 by using end-of-life materials to create a very of-today line called Regenerated. In the same spirit, Anaïs Dautais Warmel, founder of Les Récupérables (also Paris), makes her collections from second-hand household linen, end-of-roll luxury fabrics, etc., and has them made in workforce integration workshops in France and Portugal. Limited editions for waste-free style.
In Marseille meanwhile, Mathilde Godart (Maison Pépite) designs pouch bags, headbands and scrunchies from recovered fabrics. Récif Clothing makes single-fabric garments that are 100% recyclable and harmless to the environment. Upcykids makes children’s clothes from locally salvaged garments and materials. In 2020, Super Marché in Marseille created a capsule collection from pre-loved clothing. Monia Sbouia is about to launch Atelier Regain, an integration project. And lastly, Freepry is a second-hand clothing portal that already has many member brands. With all that, surely we can revolutionise the textile industry.

By Laurence Jacquet