Ysé is B Corp certified
A step towards giving us the strength and determination to continue working together, and to be ever more demanding and transparent.
Act II
Since 2019, at Ysé, we have been creating the Acte II collections (new designs crafted from recycled materials) driven by a vision that is renewed year after year: to waste nothing and to enhance everything.
Today, we’ve popped into our design and production offices to give you a glimpse behind the scenes of how these collections are created.
Quelles matières sont utilisées pour réaliser les pièces Acte II ?
The Act II pieces are created using our surplus materials: fabrics sourced from the end-of-roll remnants of our previous collections, sometimes referred to as deadstock by other companies.
These fabrics are what are known as “pre-consumer waste”: materials that have never been used but remain in our workshops after production.
We collect these quantities from our partners, and then our design team comes up with ideas for what we can create using these existing resources.
These are collections that emerge from what already exists… and invite us to rethink design in a new way.
Why choose to reuse these materials?
Reusing these fabrics means extending their life: it prevents them from being stored indefinitely, or worse, from being destroyed. It allows us to give our own materials a new lease of life and to strengthen the circularity of our model.
This approach has several benefits:
- To minimise our environmental impact by preventing these materials from being thrown away or destroyed,
- To reduce the extraction of new resources by reusing what we have already produced,
- To create a virtuous cycle in which our materials are reintroduced into the production cycle.
The quality remains the same: this marks a real revival for these fabrics, thanks to the work of our design team, who have had to be even more inventive to transform these fabrics into new, desirable pieces, offered at more affordable prices.
How can this surplus of materials be explained?
Even when we produce as efficiently as possible, there may still be leftover fabric after each production run, for various reasons: slight differences in the size of fabric rolls, or trimmings that don’t quite match up in quantity…
These quantities aren’t always enough to start a whole new production run, but they represent a valuable resource that we want to make the most of.
This is where our Act II range comes from.
Any leftover materials and supplies that we cannot reuse are then donated to charities or in-house training centres.
What is the creative process behind these products?
To answer this question, we spoke to Justine, a designer at Ysé:
“It’s a real creative constraint because I don’t choose any of the materials or colours. Everything is already there.
As the aim is to use up these little forgotten treasures, I try not to have too many new materials or additional accessories produced when I’m designing the product (for example, I reuse lining colours from what we have in the collection, and for adjuster rings, elastic, straps or other bits, I try to reuse those too). Of course, this isn’t always possible.”
Act II is a small step, but a step in the right direction.
It’s a way of showing respect for the material, the time it took to make it, and the craftsmanship of the workshops that created it. It’s also a way of offering pieces at more affordable prices.
If you’d like to find out more about an Act II piece, how to care for it or the materials used, our customer service team will be happy to help.
Act II
Since 2019, we at Ysé have been creating the Acte II collections. These new designs are crafted from recycled materials, yet they share the same vision: to waste nothing and to enhance everything.
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