Renēe

Renēe’s sto­ry star­ted when Zoë’s grand­fa­ther wan­ted to throw away some old shirts. The crea­ti­ve fashion tech­no­lo­gy stu­dent thought this was a was­te and went to work with them. By com­bi­ning dif­fe­rent shirts, she crea­ted a dress. Zoë’s upcy­cling crea­ti­ons quick­ly found favour with tho­se around her and from this moti­va­ti­on the brand renēe was born in Sep­tem­ber 2020. The name refers to the French word renée (reborn) and, like the brand its­elf, is unisex. 

All the clo­thes are made local­ly in the renēe ate­lier in Ghent and a local pro­duc­tion ate­lier. So you can be sure that your dress is made in a com­ple­te­ly ethi­cal way! Part of the pro­duc­tion takes place at a local, social ate­lier. The ate­lier works with peo­p­le distanced from the labour market.

Renēe star­ted as an upcy­cling brand, giving old men’s shirts a new life as a tren­dy dress or vest. Now the Ghent-based brand con­ti­nues with dead­stock mate­ri­als. The­se are sur­plu­s­es from other manu­fac­tu­r­ers or brands.

The clo­thes con­sist main­ly of cot­ton. This is a natu­ral mate­ri­al, and becau­se it is recy­cled dead­stock, the mate­ri­al is also sustainable.

All renēe dres­ses are made out of dead­stock mate­ri­als. They are thus saved from land­fills, which con­tri­bu­tes to the cir­cu­lar eco­no­my! Moreo­ver, you can also have your own cus­to­mi­sed design made. Have a shirt or gar­ment you want to keep as a kee­p­sa­ke? Renēe will crea­te a uni­que bespo­ke design with it.

During the pro­duc­tion pro­cess almost ever­y­thing from the exis­ting shirts is used to make some­thing new. The lef­to­vers are kept and are trans­for­med into mouth masks, scar­ves, small bags… So not­hing goes to was­te!

Renēe has a short sup­p­ly chain as ever­y­thing is pro­du­ced in Bel­gi­um. Zoë designs and crea­tes the coll­ec­tions in her design­stu­dio in Ghent. Part of the pro­duc­tion is done by a manu­fac­tu­ring work­shop in Mechelen. So your purcha­se does­n’t have to tra­vel long distances to get to you!

Most of the coll­ec­tion is vegan as renēe uses most­ly cot­ton. Becau­se the brand works with dead­stock mate­ri­als, it can be dif­fi­cult to find out the exact com­po­si­ti­on of the fabrics. As a result, it is pos­si­ble that ani­mal mate­ri­als could still be pre­sent.

Every renēe is uni­que and tim­e­l­ess and is pro­du­ced accor­ding to the slow fashion mind­set. In win­ter you will find war­mer dres­ses and trou­ser suits made of flan­nel, cor­du­roy and jeans. In the sum­mer Renēe makes airy dres­ses in cot­ton and other mate­ri­als. So you can dress up in tren­dy Renēe dres­ses and shirts all year round!

The sur­pri­sing com­bi­na­ti­ons and patch­work of the dif­fe­rent fabrics make each pie­ce uni­que. Do you like bold colours or do you pre­fer neu­tral shades? Every renēe is dif­fe­rent. This gives you the free­dom to choo­se a uni­que dress that suits you best! The dres­ses, kimo­nos and shirts are com­for­ta­ble and rather loo­se-fit­ting. This makes them acces­si­ble to dif­fe­rent sizes and figures.

Would you like a per­so­na­li­sed pie­ce or have an idea for a design? Tha­t’s pos­si­ble too! At renēe’s you can also bring in your own shirts and trou­sers and have them trans­for­med into a dress or kimo­no. This way, you are sure to recei­ve a per­so­na­li­sed item that real­ly suits you!

Renēe is a small brand, ever­y­thing is hand­ma­de in Bel­gi­um. Much of the coll­ec­tion is made by Zoë hers­elf. The desi­gner shared the name of the Mechelen-based pro­duc­tion work­shop with COSH! and is the­r­e­fo­re com­ple­te­ly trans­pa­rent!