Up Cycling
I am not a fan of numbers and statistics, however a disastrous observation jumps out at us. In these times when the trumpets of Black Friday over-consumption sound, we can only be moved or scandalized to read (Business of Fashion study) that each year, 700,000 tonnes of clothing and accessories are purchased around the world. Of these 700,000 tonnes, only 160,000 are recycled. This is how 442 million euros worth of clothes are shamelessly thrown into the trash.
Another study (The travel of a T-shirt in the global economy – by Pietra Rivoli) demonstrates that the carbon footprint of a t-shirt can reach 10 kg by adding up all the energy impacts of each stage of its production (extraction raw materials, fiber cultivation, harvesting, packaging, shipping… especially if the raw materials are synthetic, which means extraction of hydrocarbons and chemical transformation to create a yarn etc, etc…). 3,000 liters of water will have been consumed during successive crops and baths and 40,000 km traveled, with its share of kerosene and diesel swallowed up, before this t-shirt lands on the shelf of one of these giant liners , fast fashion super markets.
However, on certain Saturdays we could see signs parading “before the end of the world, there is the end of the month”. The question deserves to be asked and above all to be answered in a human, social and economic way, but I refuse to believe that fast fashion and the invasion of low cost products satisfy, at the same time, a seamstress treated without dignity at the at the end of the world and a final client who is experiencing difficult incomes with us. But how can we make the right choice between consumerist mismanagement and saving our unfortunate planet, which has become submersible and combustible?
Two camps seem to be glaring at each other, on one side the stubborn climate skeptics, on the other the champions of a radical break with the productivist and consumerist system. Between these two opposite banks, a river flows. It is his current that carries Mister K like so many others who believe in the virtues of nuance and discernment in action. More than ever, our companies must resonate with the aspirations of customers who have become citizens, users and actors in the formidable play that is being played out. We can collectively bend the curve of global warming by each and every person, day after day, taking an action, even tiny, that breaks with our stratified routines of compulsive purchases of disposable products.
Mister K aims to resolve this equation, based on the quest for meaning and commitment, without compromising with the aspiration of women to assume elegance and singularity.
“Make something beautiful, and do it well” is our compass. To do this, our daily action is based on all the principles of “circular economy”. The hunt for waste and additional costs is almost obsessive. And yet, it is not a question of managing our Brand in a minimalist and pusillanimous way, it is a question of finding the ways and means which lead to the right gesture stripped of all superfluity, like a blueprint. I believe, in all modesty, that the mantra less is more, theorized by the immense architect designer Mies Van der Rohe, inspired me. Beauty is often born from simplicity or at least from doing better and better, day after day, with fewer resources.
For these purposes, up-cycling is particularly structuring in the development of our collections. Lovers of the French language, of which I am one, will still be moved to hear once again the use of Anglo-Saxon jargon... They will perhaps prefer to use sur-cyclage, or even "make something new with something new". old” to speak like my beloved grandmother… It’s basically about giving a second life to products and materials that inconsequential users could have destroyed, through weariness, ease or lack of insight… it’s the same!
In the concrete case of Mister K, our conviction is rooted, we want and can “kill two birds with one stone”. Up-cycling is an awareness and a real ethic of action that makes luxury affordable. We have a dedicated network of partner informants who notify us of all dormant stocks of materials and measurements always coming from major luxury brands, or directly from our exceptional European suppliers. Confidentiality commitments require us to remain discreet about the origin of the fabrics, but I guarantee that their extreme quality will not deceive your discerning eyes, that is the main thing.
Up-cycling as we practice it has transparency and traceability as its natural allies, particularly in the composition of our prices. The act of purchasing has a certain cost, especially at this time when inflation has exploded the costs of raw materials and manufacturing, despite this when a product is beautiful and well made it lasts, we have taken the side of never compromise on quality... we promise you that our prices and margins are fair, never artificially inflated with a view to crushing them on sales days and Black Friday. They are reserved at a lower price than once in stock, this is the price before production: to produce as accurately as possible, by measuring the stocks that we will make so as not to overproduce.
" Nothing is lost, everything is transformed ". Attributed to Lavoisier, our 18th century chemist, this is indeed a historical definition of up-cycling.
We will never say that we do everything right, but count on us to do the best we can every day.
Charlotte
