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| A 100 percent cotton coat, left, is included in SMK’s fall and winter collection this year. Meanwhile, a shoulder bag is made using the leftover fabric from the coat on the left - the silver fabric on the bag is the same as the lining of the coat. [SMK] |
More and more faux fur and artificial leather are walking down famous catwalks these days as designers are seeking to use more sustainable materials such as organic cotton and naturally dyed fabric.
Despite the increased awareness, consumers in America and Europe have only just started to take part the trend of sustainable fashion, making it quite a lonely job for young independent fashion designers. In addition to getting the message across to the consumers, it’s challenging to even talk to all those involved in the production of clothing, including the sample makers, seamstresses and factory directors - all of whom believe that time is money - about the philosophy of sustainable fashion, let alone asking them to use sustainable practices.
Last week, the Korea JoongAng Daily visited a young designer’s office in Garosu-gil - a neighborhood in southern Seoul that was once home to small ateliers but is now lined with fast fashion brands - who established the sustainable fashion brand SMK in 2014, in hopes of bringing sustainable fashion to Korea, a foreign land for the designer.
Sandra Meynier-Kang is a young French designer who graduated from the Atelier Chardon Savard school of fashion in Paris in 2008. After graduation, she worked as a designer and international overseas marketer for a French brand, which led her to visit Korea for the first time to investigate the brand’s potential in the country. Eventually, she decided to settle down here 2010 and even met her husband, from whom she took part of her last name, Kang.
SMK produces ready-to-wear collections for both men and women along with accessories and sells them through its own online shop (www.sandrameynierkang.com) and through other online and offline retailers across the globe.
Although not fluent in Korean, Meynier-Kang personally visits all the factory directors and sample makers she works with to communicate her philosophy to them, so that they can be part of it. Sample makers specialize in making small quantities of clothing designs.
“It’s not easy to work in Korea as a designer and a head of a brand, especially as a foreigner,” said Meynier-Kang. “But I can’t give up because I am seeing changes already. For example, my sample maker, who is a lovely Korean lady, I’m not afraid of giving a production to her now, but I have to admit it wasn’t easy at first. Also, I did have such bad moments with factories that I had to find new ones all the time.”
For this year’s spring and summer collection, Meynier-Kang designed all her clothes using recycled materials such as the leftover stock fabrics and accessories from previous collections, and repurposed them into a complete collection with zero waste. When she brought all her leftover stock and recycled materials that were going to be remade into a whole new collection to the factory director, he was dumbfounded.
“I think I explained to him pretty well, although it was done in my Korean that’s not as perfect, about my philosophy and my concept and made sure that he was OK with working with me,” said Meynier-Kang. “But when he really saw all those bits and pieces he usually considers as trash but realized that he needs to work with them, I think he began to go totally mad. He was having a hard time working with my recycled materials, and I understand because that’s not how he’s used to working and time is money for people like him.”
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| Sandra Meynier-Kang |
“I believe it’s important to build relationships with the local partners and grow together,” said Meynier-Kang. “I’ve been working with the same sample maker since the brand was established, and even nowadays I sometimes disagree with the way she finishes. But we talk about it and we find a way together. These people are the ones with the skills you don’t have. You may be able to reach the top without them, but when you are there on your own, you’ll no longer have partners and people to grow with. That’s not my idea of being sustainable.”
As for her relationship with her sample maker, the designer said they are on “such a good terms she even sometimes makes the decisions for me.”
“For example, when I don’t have the right thread color and need to buy one, she’ll find one around the same color among the ones she has and stop me from buying a new one. Now she knows me and understands my philosophy, so she’s always taking a step further for me.”
“And now, I think she has really started to ask herself about sustainability,” she continued. “Sometimes she even keeps some of the leftover fabrics from other partners she has. She puts them all with my leftover fabrics in a bag and gives it to me.”
There are many aspects to being a sustainable fashion designer. One designer may focus on protecting animal while another designer may stress the importance of using sustainable materials.
In her “Sustainability Manifesto,” which is printed on SMK’s company card - made of 55 percent recycled paper - Meynier-Kang decided to list her philosophies in order of priority. Her first priority is animal protection, followed by buying and producing local; forming networks with local associations for each collection and making donations; using eco-friendly materials; affordable pricing; and lastly making sure that everyone, even those with disabilities, has access to order her products online and has “the opportunity to take part in this sustainability fashion trend if they wish to,” the designer said.
“I just added the ‘Affordable Sustainable Clothing’ and ‘Made-to-Order’ to the manifesto this year,” she explained.
“I try to make my collection as affordable as I can because when you look into the sustainable fashion market, it’s kind of really expensive,” she said. “I feel like, if you really want to make a change in the world, you need to help people to change their behavior rather than making them feel guilty of their behaviors. In order to do that, design them clothes that are affordable enough, for as many people as possible, to change their behavior.”
“I try to have in my line to always include low-price items to allow these people, whether they have low incomes or they are students with not much money, to buy a little bit of sustainability to help them to make a step toward change and not keep them apart from the change and make them think it’s only for the rich,” said Meynier-Kang. “For me, it’s really important to bring sustainability to the street.”
A normal jacket from SMK costs between $100 to $200, a price Meynier-Kang says is pretty much the same you would pay at other fast-fashion brands.
“If you are able to buy a jacket in Garosu-gil, you are able to buy mine, too,” she said.
BY YIM SEUNG-HYE [sharon@joongang.co.kr