Sustainable Sewing with Alexandra Hartmann

Alexandra Hartmann is a French designer and founder of the brand Hôtel Vetements and teacher at FOF København. She teaches sustainable sewing and inspires students to view old materials in a new way. Learn more about Alexandra and her courses in this interview. The clothes in the photos are from Alexandras brand. 

Alexandra Hartmann

What sparked your interest in upcycling and sustainable sewing?

I think I like a good challenge; I like the endless possibilities. Working with used fabrics is almost like putting a puzzle together. Giving new meaning to discarded fabrics and giving new value and a new story to what you work with is a fun creative process.

Do you have any advice for people who want to start upcycling clothes, but don’t know where to start?

I would say start by working with textures and fabrics that are appealing to you. It has to inspire you and be meaningful to you.

What inspires you in your work? How can you inspire the students?

What inspires me is the endless creativity there is when you create clothes. You can really make it your own in a unique way. I want to help people find their own creativity so they can channel that through their work process. The intention is that they get a taste of how it is to create your own work.

How and where do you look for materials for the clothes you create?

At the beginning we basically called a lot of different places like hotels and old establishments in France that had some old tablecloths or curtains etc. We now go through various professionals who resale old fabrics or dead stock. We also go through private auctions, that is how we were able to put our hands on the Hôtel Ritz curtains.