Overconsumption, workers’ rights, exploitation of natural resources. The fashion industry is more than ever on the dock for its impact on the environment . At its own level, a group of seamstresses is trying to provide some answers.
They are a hundred and come from Chanel, Dior, Saint Laurent, Jean-Paul Gauliter, Schiaparelli or the Paris Opera. After making masks for healthcare workers and front-line workers throughout the confinement, they developed and made open access this month to the pattern of a dress “as green as possible”.
“We designed a model that is built from pieces that fit together like a puzzle to minimize fabric waste,” Tissuni founder Marie-Béatrice Boyer told HuffPost . The little green dress requires less than a yard of fabric. Only 94 centimeters for size 36 are used, “which is well below the standards of the sector which uses between two and three meters on average”, specifies the professional.
Responsible clothing
From sketch to technique, through aesthetics, production and communication: everything has been thought out responsibly. The boss uses little ink. The website was designed on a black background to limit energy consumption.
Everyone is free to print the pattern at home, after having downloaded it for free at this address , or to order the said dress directly from the collective. Tissuni produces the garment on demand from organic linen grown in the north of France. It is naturally tinted in white, “one of the least toxic colors”, blows the designer.
Making the prototype freely accessible is not trivial. It aims to make everyone aware of “the value of clothing, which has deteriorated dramatically in recent years,” explains Marie-Béatrice Boyer. The clothes cost less, they are of lower quality. So we have to produce more and this is not without consequences for the planet and people. ”
Needles, scissors and sewing thread
Since the start of confinement, couture has been invited to homes, in France and abroad. While several luxury brands market their masks for a hundred euros, the French have taken out the needles, threads and scissors to make theirs.
On social networks, others go further. As evidenced by the snaps that accompany the #SewingChallenge and #CraftCore hashtags, users are breathing new life into old clothes. “It’s exciting what’s going on at the moment,” says the Chanel seamstress.
