el.résidu

This one-woman brand was founded and is located in Amsterdam, while the source and production is entirely in India. For her first ever collection, Ella works with an Indian non-profit called Saheli Women. They aim to financially empower the women of rural Rajasthan through creating ethical fashion. This female (owned) atelier prides themselves on their fair and inclusive principles and their ability to increase prosperity of these women through providing them livelihood opportunities. These women are taught traditional and modern embroidery techniques, and their atelier is a fear-free creative space, where these ladies can also choose their working hours and holidays. Ella also works with another production facility in Delhi, with whom she has maintained relations since the beginning of the brand, and is in the process of cooperating with more production facilities, also located in India (2023).

Ella, being proud of this partnership, includes a tag on each garment with a small story about the maker of the items, and to inform the end-consumer of the garment’s making process. Her first collection is an homage to the Indian history and culture, and keeps these vintage, traditionally precious saris in use and valued for longer. This also helps spread the culture and heritage each sari carries with it.

Ella makes it a point to only use left-over, pre-loved and vintage fabrics for all her garments. She came in contact with suppliers in India who had a lot of old sari stock, and she decided to give them a second life. The saris processed by Saheli Women are previously worn and collected for upcycling into dresses, skirts, and shirts, and the silk deadstock saris sourced from the supplier with a lot of old stock were used for the quilted designs within the collection.

As these are upcycled garments, the exact composition of the fabrics cannot be known. However, some products are made from an upcycled material containing viscose and polyester blends. Some products contain a cotton and silk blend, both natural fibres being gentle to the skin. Other garments are made of 100% silk. A lot of these materials are naturally biodegradable, making them beneficial to the environment. The only non recycled synthetic material used in this brand is for the padding within the quilted garments, which reinforces the strength of the used materials and increases the longevity of the garment, and keeps it away from landfills.

So far, all the production and upcycling is conducted without use of any water or chemicals during the process, which ensures the least impact of the garments on the environment by avoiding water usage/​pollution or release of toxic chemicals into the ecosystem. Textile waste during the design process is also minimized and avoided by using any scraps or leftovers to make garment bags, or accessories such as scrunchies or Christmas decoration.

For the packaging, plastic bags are used for the webshop as of now until a better sustainable alternative can be adopted (2023), which will be easier as the company grows. As far as possible, these bags are reused and then recycled, and their quantity is kept to a minimum. However, the purchases during live events are packaged in paper bags that do not have any harmful coatings, making them easily biodegradable.

Ella recommends hanging the clothes to dry instead of using dryers, which is beneficial not only to reduce the carbon emissions but also to keep fabrics fresh longer. She currently only ships these clothes within Europe reducing transport emissions, however also offers the option to arrange free pick-up at the Amsterdam office, incentivizing the reduced impact of transport emissions on the environment.

This brand works exclusively with upcycled deadstock and pre-loved materials, giving them new life. Ella romanticizes the concept of second-hand materials, saying pre-loved materials have a certain beauty and charm that make them unique and more special for the wearer. Most of the products are material blends, however as their composition cannot be known due to their upcycled nature, we cannot know the recyclability of these products containing synthetic blends. However, there are also natural material blends, which are biodegradable, and some mono-material products made from 100% upcycled silk, which would be easy to recycle at the end of use.

This brand is located in Amsterdam, and its production and sourcing is in India. One of the production partners is located in Rajasthan, and another in Delhi, which being located in India far away from the HQ in Amsterdam, increases the length of the chain, and currently the mode of transport is still by air. However, Ella tries to reduce the impact of the transport emissions as much as possible by keeping the transport minimum and only for big bulk transports, or brings it back herself when conducting visits to the facilities personally, which she does regularly to ensure ethical working conditions and maintain personal relations. The products, once they reach Amsterdam, are then shipped only within Europe, which keeps the chain short and reduces transport emissions.

This brand works with only upcycled products, so far with mainly non-animal sourced materials. Except for the silk items, however, because they’re upcycled, the silk cocoons didn’t need to be used directly to create el.résidu’s clothes. But we don’t know if the larvae are freed out of their cocoons before making the silk (peace silk) or if they’re used all together. This impacts the animal welfare. Regardless of if it’s peace silk, or conventional silk, it’s a good thing this quality material is repurposed.

This brand works with high quality fibres such as silk and cotton which have thermal regulating capacity, hence could be used in any temperatures. The viscose and polyester materials are breathable, and the colours remain bright for longer. Any materials that have brittled due to their pre-loved nature, are turned into quilted garments with synthetic padding inside to make them sturdier and extend their existence much longer. Wash and care instructions are also provided to reduce wear and tear on the garments.

Ella stresses the value of pre-loved materials, their imperfections to be seen in a positive light rather than negative. She emphasizes that these imperfections add charm and make them unique and special for the wearer of the garment.

As upcycled garments cannot be reproduced exactly alike, each item is unique with a different print. Ella also made 40% of the collection unisex, and designed them to be styled according to each person’s personal preference. The items also have a large fit range, keeping them in use even through changes in the body. The designs are timeless, and bright, and bring a sense of warmth to the wearer and anyone who sees them.

The best thing you can do is love and cherish your el.résidu purchase, and keep it for long.

Ella provides a lot of transparency regarding all processes of this brand, from materiality to garment making processes. Her goal for this brand is to increase knowledge on garment making processes within the general population, hence with each item she includes a tag including a story about the maker and making process. She also explains that while there is no way for her to know the exact composition ratio of each material, she states the materiality in each product description page, with details about the positives and negatives of each material.

Ella also talked to COSH! and even provides an email address for anyone to reach out to with any questions regarding the brand, partners, mission or anything regarding the work processes.