Damaged clothes, worn-out items, fabric scraps, or unsold prototypes: L'Atelier de la Matière recovers what would otherwise be thrown away. "Our role is to enhance the material for the sake of the material, meaning to recover it and use it in traditional sewing classes. And also a lot of upcycling, which is about reinventing clothes in a high-end way," explains Pauline Vandôme.
Each year, the association collects three tons of textiles that it seeks to repurpose.
This initiative resonates with Pauline Vandôme's background, as she worked for about fifteen years as a stylist for various major ready-to-wear brands. There, she noticed the waste associated with prototypes. "We have collections that sometimes have 600 references. And out of these 600 references, we have a first sample that will end up in the trash because it is not sellable." This observation was reinforced by a trip to India, where she discovered the environmental consequences of the textile industry.
At L'Atelier de la Matière, the goal is also to change the perception of upcycling. "What we want to show is how you can be really stylish with upcycling, how you can reinvent clothes that have a beautiful identity and give them a new identity that is even more fashionable, even more trendy."
The association also works with schools, local residents, and individuals wishing to learn sewing. It particularly welcomes retirees, young people wanting to work in fashion, as well as asylum seekers and immigrants looking to have their skills recognized.
L'Atelier de la Matière has thus become a space for meeting and sharing. "A sewing workshop is a living space, where people come because they want to exchange ideas," enthuses Pauline Vandôme. A way to make reuse a tool that is creative, ecological, and social at the same time.
L'Atelier de la Matière is an initiative suggested to us by the opération milliard, one of whose missions is to make visible the organizations of the Just Transition.
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