TAILORING WORKSHOP
Stitch by Stitch
The textile industry has a lot of shadowy aspects: inhumane working conditions, unfair wages, opaque supply chains, non-degradable materials and water pollution. Textiles currently produce more CO2 than all the flights and cruises put together. And each person in Germany buys around sixty new items of clothing on average.
What might social and environmental sustainability mean for a tailoring workshop? Stitch by Stitch is a social enterprise that explores this question from an entrepreneurial approach, promoting integration and enabling staff to lead an independent existence through a formal apprenticeship or permanent employment, in combination with fair production conditions in Germany.
For whom?
Women who have a background of displacement or migration and experience in tailoring.
Aim
Social and societal participation for women in conjunction with sustainably produced clothing
Duration
3–5 years training
Location
Frankfurt
‘Tailoring is like a shared language,’ says the apprentice. ‘You sew a blouse in Afghanistan or Syria in much the same way as you do in Germany – that binds us together. I’ve learned so much here and improved my knowledge of German. I find the contact with other women in the same profession really important, it helped me enormously.’
‘Tailoring is like a shared language,’ says the apprentice. ‘You sew a blouse in Afghanistan or Syria in much the same way as you do in Germany – that binds us together. I’ve learned so much here and improved my knowledge of German. I find the contact with other women in the same profession really important, it helped me enormously.’
apprentice at Stitch by Stitch
‘As a social enterprise, it brings us great joy to combine equal opportunities for women with fashion.’
‘As a social enterprise, it brings us great joy to combine equal opportunities for women with fashion.’
17.500
items of clothing
25
trainees and apprentinces
10
countries of origin
Fair Fashion gives refugees prospects for the future
Stitch by Stitch is a B2B tailoring workshop that takes small series and prototype commissions for high-end fashion labels, with a special focus on bridal fashion and evening wear. The workshop’s own cross-cultural collection provides a real alternative to fast fashion. As a training facility, Stitch by Stitch makes it possible for sewists who have a background of displacement or migration to train as made-to-measure seamstresses so that their existing skills can be formally recognised with a completed apprenticeship, which in turn paves the way for them to become integrated into and participate in the primary labour market. The majority of seamstresses are taken on as apprentices. The Crespo Foundation supports growth and consolidation at this Frankfurt-based social enterprise.
PARTNERS
Stitch by Stitch e.V. is funded by the Crespo Foundation, City of Frankfurt, FRAP Agentur, the Hesse Ministry of Social Affairs and Integration, and Postcode Lotterie.
Contact
Nicole von Alvensleben
Stitch by Stitch
