Giving a second life to dead fashion stocks

At the Nona Source showroom in northern Paris, designers choose luxurious textiles with ornate names: curly alpaca, geometric macrame guipure, jacquard diamond silk cloque.

What makes them truly exotic, however, is that they all come from “dead materials”: the scraps that designers discard when they're done with a bolt of fabric.

Until recently, it was common for dead goods, such as unsold clothing, to be burned or buried. At best, they gathered dust in warehouses.

Ever conscious of its image, luxury giant LVMH created Nona Source three years ago, selling deadstock items at a steep discount to up-and-coming designers.

“I realized that in the warehouses there were what we call 'sleeping beauties,' magnificent fabrics that remained there for years after the collections were made,” said co-founder Romain Brabo.

Last year, it sold about 280 kilometers (170 miles) of fabric, enough for about 140,000 items of clothing.

Among the regular clients is Arturo Obegero, a 30-year-old Spanish designer who uses only upcycled and recycled materials.

Despite working out of a small space in her home, she's landed some big-name orders, including a sheer corset dress for Beyoncé on her Renaissance tour, a sign of her skill and the growing appeal of climate-conscious design.

“I come from a family of surfers, of fishermen. When you come from a small town, you are connected to nature, you learn to respect it,” Obegero said.

He says Nona Source has allowed him to work in the big leagues.

“People are more conscious of the products they buy… but it can be difficult to offer something truly sustainable at an affordable price.”

Evolving beauty

As pressure increases on the fashion industry to manage its mountains of waste and enormous ecological impact, initiatives like Nona Source are multiplying.

Luxury giants like LVMH can afford to make an effort and also understand the marketing value.

It has ambitious goals, such as moving transportation from planes to ships, training suppliers in better water management, and investing in new technology-driven textiles such as vegan leather (it says it tested 300 such innovations last year). past).

But Helene Valade, LVMH's chief sustainability officer, says the company's main role is to “evolve” people's understanding of beauty.

“That's really our power. Ten years ago, when we used something recycled, people found it ugly. That's not the case anymore,” he told AFP.

“Beauty is no longer something completely smooth, perfect, smooth… It's also what designers can do with recycled fabrics.”

Some are skeptical.

“Until they eliminate PVC plastic from their supply chain, especially at Louis Vuitton, LVMH will never be a green company,” said Dana Thomas, author of “Fashionopolis” about the industry's climate impact.

Louis Vuitton, the world's best-selling luxury brand, makes most of its money from its monogrammed bags, which are made of PVC-coated canvas.

'Major change'

Thomas welcomes ideas like Nona Source, but finds them frustrating.

“It's a sensible idea. So why weren't they doing it already 20 years ago?” she said.

“Fashion is very behind compared to, for example, the automobile industry. Now you can buy an electric truck, but the bags are still made of plastic?!”

She says a new generation of fashion executives is finally paying attention, and Nona Source is seeing the impact as an increasing amount of the deadstock it receives is already made from recycled textiles.

“We are seeing a really important change,” Brabo said.

As he told AFP, Charles de Vilmorin, the 27-year-old prodigy who was creative director of Rochas and runs his own brand in Paris, entered.

“I come here for inspiration. I like to be surprised,” De Vilmorin said.

“I think it's wonderful that they give new life to these materials, that they are not thrown away or destroyed… It is very important.”