Uniforme, made to last

Hugues and Rémi, the two designers behind the brand UNIFORME that combines aesthetic research and sustainability, present their SS21 collection with a personal take on scout uniforms. The right time to go through their journey, their vision of responsible fashion and the values ​​they defend. Portrait of two committed designers.

How did the two of you meet?  

Hugues and Rémi: We met in 2012 during our Fashion design BA at the Studio Berçot in Paris. We ended up working on a menswear project together and got along so well that we never stopped and eventually present our graduation collection as a duo. 

What was your background before launching your brand? 

Rémi: Before launching UNIFORME, we learnt the ropes in major Parisian houses as assistant menswear designers. Hugues worked for Lanvin and Wooyoungmi. I worked for Balenciaga and Hermès, among others. 

What was the trigger that led you to create UNIFORME in 2017? 

Hugues and Rémi: We no longer found meanings in the way we were doing our job. The frantic pace of the collections, the ever-increasing number of garments to produce, the lack of contact between creatives and manufacturers no longer suited us.  It is the desire to do things differently and more sustainably, to work as locally as possible, on a slower pace and above all to get to know our manufacturers that has led us to launch UNIFORME. 

You mix both military codes and workwear details to better revisit traditional uniforms. Can you explain to us where this passion for uniforms comes from? 

Hugues: Our fascination for uniforms and workwear apparel goes back to childhood. It is a passion that we have both nurtured on our own and that has brought us together, by uniting our creative universes. 

Rémi: Hugues grew up surrounded by craftsmen on his father’s public works sites and I lived as a child with a firefighter stepfather whose formal attire fascinated me. Our passion for uniforms is therefore intimately linked to our childhood and to a certain nostalgia that emanates from this time. 

You stand up for ecological values. How is UNIFORME a sustainable brand? 

Hugues and Rémi: We have developed the brand in accordance with our lifestyle, attentive to consume locally and in a reasoned way.  UNIFORME is part of a local production approach, our French factories being less than 3 hours from Paris by train.  We also work on a daily basis to avoid any waste and we are very careful not to produce more than what we sell. The brand is also developed around a very demanding choice of materials and the control of their origins excluding any plastic component. Each season we make sure to reuse fabrics and supplies from past seasons. Finally, UNIFORME is a sustainable brand because it is committed to creating clothes made to last and that we want to pass on. 

UNIFORME is based on local crafts, long time manufacturing process, a relationship with nature. Why did you put these concepts at the core of you brand? 

Hugues: We put these concepts at the core of UNIFORME because they represent for us the very foundation of what should be responsible luxury clothing. 

Rémi: Hugues and I grew up in the countryside, in contact with nature and we were made aware very early on of crafts and its beauty. It was obvious to us that our brand would be built around these values. 

What was the starting point for your SS21 collection? 

Hugues and Rémi: Each season we associate the study of a uniform with an environmental issue.  This season, our starting point has been a take on scout uniforms. We chose to reinterpret it for its symbols of companionship, solidarity and respect for nature which are much needed now. From the start, we also chose to mainly use dead stock fabrics which has conditioned our creative process this season. 

Was lockdown a creative period for you? Is the current crisis changing your outlook on fashion and your brand? 

Hugues and Rémi:  Lockdown was rather a period of introspection. We tried to put our job and its impact into perspective which allowed us to think differently and go even further in terms of commitments. This crisis has not changed our outlook on fashion, on the contrary, it has strengthened our idea that fashion has a future only if it is based on a more modest, reasoned and sustainable development, which is what we try hard to do within UNIFORME. 

What was the starting point for your SS21 collection? 

Hugues and Rémi: Each season we associate the study of a uniform with an environmental issue. This season, our starting point has been a take on scout uniforms. We chose to reinterpret it for its symbols of companionship, solidarity and respect for nature which are much needed now. From the start, we also chose to mainly use dead stock fabrics which has conditioned our creative process this season.