Bypassing "a predatory economy that is not interested in the planet or people (...) it is possible, it is not a utopia," said Anne Hidalgo at the inauguration, hailing "a peaceful, gentle revolution".

It is in the south of Paris, in the 13th arrondissement, rue Jean-Baptiste Berlier, that the manufacture took up residence.

Six occupants share its 1,150 m², on the second floor of a glazed building designed by Dominique Perrault: the association of business leaders Fashion Green Hub, the professional integration associations Hawa, Espero and Trevo, the dyeing workshop Whole and the Coco&Rico creation and confection workshop.

These structures work towards a more responsible fashion by recovering unsold, production offcuts, end of stocks. They produce +Made in France+, train in the social and solidarity economy and hire people who are far from employment.

According to the City, by 2030, the Parisian circular economy sector will create 3,000 jobs and avoid or recover 20,000 tons of textile waste per year.

"Luxury brands are very interested, they tell us +We have sheds full of dormant stocks, we don't know what to do with them +", says Lucas Thivolet Conde Salazar, of Fashion Green Hub Grand Paris.

The mayor of Paris paid 2.5 million euros in subsidies to the RIVP (real estate agency of the city of Paris), to moderate the rents of the manufacture.

A man at work at the Berlier factory, who dreams of being a temple of circular fashion, on May 24, 2023 in Paris © ALAIN JOCARD / AFP

It is "central, accessible and bathed in light", enthuses Thomas Ebélé, president of Fashion Green Hub Grand Paris, who rents "a place at the heart of the heritage of the textile industry", where the Bièvre used to flow, supplying dyers and tanneries.

'Pushing the boundaries'

Coworking spaces, photo studio, creative and tailoring workshops... Within the manufacture reigns a hushed atmosphere, barely disturbed by the sounds of brushing fabrics and the discreet pace of sewing machines that are activated episodically.

"We see a lot of machines and few workers on them," says Gabriel Defrocourt, co-founder of Coco&Rico, a creative and tailoring workshop for many brands, from Marine Serre to Paul & Joe, from organic materials, recovered and produced in France.

Because unlike globalized productions, everything is manufactured on site and therefore requires a lot of equipment, operated by "mechanics who have experience", explains his associate Cléa Polar.

Further on, three seamstresses are busy on a Siena-coloured fabric. A collection "all in linen" sewn with thread "100% cotton", without haberdashery: "You can forget your skirt on the beach", it is compostable, says Lucie Mestre, founder of the design office L'Unique Façon, which accompanies the Imajine brand in its development.

A woman at work at the Berlier factory, who dreams of being a temple of circular fashion, on May 24, 2023 in Paris © ALAIN JOCARD / AFP

"When I started (a master's degree in fashion designer, editor's note), we did not address these notions," says Stacy Venient, a 23-year-old work-study student who "did not think at all" before about the environmental issues of fashion.

"But now it's become obvious: for my collection, I'm going to be super careful," she promises.

At the factory, it is also the "social aspect" that seduced Maya Takeuchi, workshop manager in Hawa, who employs women in difficulty: "We are a small workshop but we are pushing the boundaries of inequalities between men and women".

Under his leadership, Annette Ntsama makes a large denim bag.

"The things of life" have taken the 43-year-old mother from Italy to France, from hospitality to sewing, but Annette is now certain: "This is exactly what I was looking for!" she says with a beaming smile.

Her workshop manager Béatrice Megale finds it "very gratifying" to work for Hawa, thanks to "the feedback" given to her by these women that the association supports and, casting a circular look, is suddenly moved: "They are happy".

© 2023 AFP