In Chartres, under the vine leaf, a real beehive is revealed

In the beginning there was nothing, nothing but a jam-packed wardrobe. It was a Sunday in April or May 2015. The companion of Cherif Hate, like millions of others, invites her husband with all his strength of conviction to tidy up in his closet.

Wearing underpants in front of his wardrobe, he said to himself that it would be well advised to follow this recommendation… he contemplates his wardrobe and begins the operation “and I found myself with a hell of a pile of shirts”. The Vine Leaf adventure was in its early stages.

“I imagined that sewing was easy”

From this pile of shirts that he hardly wears any more, he suddenly clicks, telling himself that they could be reused to make underpants precisely, “but underpants for me”.

So the logistician finds himself behind a sewing machine, imagining that sewing shouldn’t be very complicated.

I began to make these shirts disappear while trying to make underpants. Well, I must admit, I did something not foolish! And then I remembered my mother who often called on an association to sew.

Installed in the Paris region, he began research by discovering the universe of recycling and up-cycling (recycling recycling). The concept appeals to him more and more.

And his research makes him fall that the Grail, the association of Chartres (Eure-et-Loir), The Lady and the Unicorn. The contact with the founder Josiane Le Bail-Jolly is immediately positive, Chérif gives meaning to her approach.

In the DNA of boxer shorts, a real social mission

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Chérif discovers ethical fashion, which in Great Britain represents around 10% of the market.

So he thinks about the presentation of his company and adopts the fig leaf.

I actually thought of Adam and Eve, the fig leaf that I colored red with blue writing on a white background. I had my logo, my brand and my workshop!

By approaching The Lady with the Unicorn, he shows himself more and more seduced by her approach around integration and the professionalism that she demonstrates. To its project, which is both so basic “and a little far-fetched”, the association injects a social mission into it.

At the antipodes of “fast fashion” which releases six collections per year, his boxer shorts are part of the ” slow fashion “Doubling the transmission of know-how and you made in France.

At the heart of the circular economy

The approach of FIG leaf goes very well to Sylvie Charron, director of the association for three years. “We respect the environment, we do not burn all these old clothes, in the circular economy and in a social integration mission”.

The 100% cotton shirts are collected from the resource centers by Chérif and “deposited like a bastard because I leave them a hell of a job”, he quipped, at the association of La Madeleine.

No, everything that is done has been validated in a specification. On the contrary, from this pile of shirts we have a creative possibility which is left to us to select those which will be assembled between them. Plain, striped, checked, floral … will compose a unique boxer shorts!

Two shirts form underpants, up to the small bag that will contain it.

Real know-how

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Under the leadership of Augusto Do Santos, technical supervisor, workshop manager and stylist, the little hands shape these underwear once the shirts have undergone a real selection process.

Reception, washing, ironing, putting on a hanger, assortment according to sizes from S to XL and here are the shirts ready to be transformed, the tops are made underneath. It’s not always easy to play with fashion because the shirts are now fitted and therefore offer less material, but, stuck to the quick, the challenge is taken up by the seamstresses hands down!

In their hands sometimes parade very beautiful ready-to-wear brands, this fashion industry finds itself with a second life.

The association with 25 candles and 3000 costumes!

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The Lady with the Unicorn was born in 1995, the day after the enormous festivities linked to the eighth centenary of Chartres cathedral.

In 1994, for the 800 years of the cathedral and all the events that went with it, a lot of medieval costumes had to be created. There was an integration course with volunteers in which Josiane Le Bail-Jolly was working in the youth animation service. Finding all these clothes to make really united a group.

The creation of The Lady with the Unicorn (DAL) not only continued to weld this group together but also made it possible to preserve all these magnificent costumes which, today, can be rented, while continuing to create them permanently.

The association, which will blow out its twenty-five candles on December 11, 2021, has, in its statutes of workshop and integration site through economic activity, the reception of people in difficulty of accommodation or in search of a stable situation. By offering them a real employment contract, the click is often there to facilitate future insertion.

For some, this passage through the OD has a strong symbolism since it is often their whole first employment contract in France and the acquisition of know-how is also coupled with interpersonal skills, “punctuality, living together, the transmission of values” adds the director.

From one thing to another

Sewing makes it possible to weave a common thread to an existence that has sometimes been chaotic.

We are concerned that people progress within the DAL, through sewing they have a significant asset and personal, family and professional. It can, in some cases, even become a life project.

And, among these people, real talents sometimes emerge who can then continue with qualifying training or even get a contract, particularly in furniture factories in Eure-et-Loir.

In the 2000s there were about fifteen sewing workshops in the department, there are now only small retouching workshops so we come to see the association for multiple achievements.