Paris (AFP)

Under the chic boutique on rue du Jour in Paris, the workshop seems very small: Paloma Casile is putting on bra bras a few days before the international lingerie fair, where she will be present to promote an eco-responsible approach.

It is in the basement of her store that the designer draws delicate lace pieces, sometimes embellished with lurex. Cutting is said to be intelligent: the tissue scraps are reused or, when this is not possible, given, to technical high schools in particular.

"I always had an approach where we were careful when we cut: I worked in factories, I saw the mess there," said Paloma Casile, 30, who will launch a second line, this both made in Morocco.

The designer, who launched her brand in 2012, chooses suppliers based mainly in France, and she has standardized her production to limit losses. Thus, all the brasserie buckles are identical, whatever the collection.

"They are made of zamak, which uses half the water than any other metal," says Ms. Casile, who has chosen a limited number of colors in Oeko-tex certified dyes (without toxic products for the environment, ed). In addition, it undertakes to repair the parts for four years.

"Yes, it is to build loyalty, but it is also in the perspective of not throwing away," she notes. Paloma Casile is not the only one to position itself in this segment: at a time when the environmental impact of the textile industry is increasingly criticized, lingerie is also seeking to go green.

If professionals find it difficult to assess the proportion of "eco-friendly" underwear, the trend is very present among young entrepreneurs who are starting out, even if it remains a minority share of a market representing 2.4 billion d euros in 2019 in France.

"As a consumer, I could not find a brand that offers both sexy outfits and that is completely responsible throughout the production chain," says Margot Dargegen, 25, who founded the Nénés Paris brand. a year ago and offers recycled lace lingerie.

"Scraps of tissue and plastic bottles are crushed and returned to the state of fiber, then melted into a thread, and from that we can reweave the material we want," she explains.

- Big chains on the niche -

"When we started, finding eco-friendly materials was more difficult, but now we see that things are moving," said Mathilde de Sacy, 28, who founded the Olly brand with a friend three years ago.

"We use certified materials: GOTS certified organic cotton, recycled fiber lace and Oeko-Tex 100 dyes. And we wanted it to be made in Europe to ensure working conditions", explains she.

"Consumers are more and more attentive to this", recognizes Cécile Vivier-Guérin, director of marketing of the international inter-sector lingerie fair, which is held in Paris from Saturday to Monday.

Ms. Vivier-Guérin notes in particular an increasingly wide range of environmentally friendly fabrics from suppliers.

And the latter compete in inventiveness, from the classic recycled cotton to recycled satin through the bra cups made from coffee fibers. A Swiss brand even offers a fully biodegradable line.

"This pushes consumers to consume better quality products, with shorter and more expensive channels, which increase the market in share of value. This is a new relay for lingerie which should not be overlooked" , underlines Ms. Vivier-Guérin, in a generally sluggish sector.

Large chains are also entering the niche, such as Etam, which has launched a collection of recycled lace.

"Everyone has understood that this is an important issue and that consumers expect it," said Gildas Minvielle, director of the Economic Observatory of the French Fashion Institute. And this, even if "the 100% ecological is difficult to achieve", recognizes Paloma Casile, who also hopes that the brands will go beyond a purely marketing approach on the environment.

© 2020 AFP