Chez Nous, a brand far from being a victim of fashion
Camélia Barbachi studied commerce before turning to fashion. At 24, she created a first collection combining her northern and Djerbian roots, with the desire to offer an alternative model.
His promotional brochure and the website that offers to pre-order his first articles on the model of crowdfunding are serious, sober, and exude professionalism. At 24, Camélia Barbachi obviously has no time to waste and knows exactly where she wants to go. Born in Roubaix, in the north of France, to Tunisian parents, she studied international business in Lille before earning an MBA in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Then to move on to specific training in the fashion professions.
"Chez nous là-bas"
In 2019, she wrote a final thesis devoted to the negative effects of fast fashion, this "disposable" fashion that we find in many of textile brands, where the articles are often sold at low prices but display a poor ecological and social record. “I would like to offer an alternative to this model, a more responsible fashion,” underlines the young woman about her first collection, which bears the Chez Nous brand. An expression that Tunisians use to designate bi-nationals born or living in the West, the "home there".
À LireMode: “Berberism”, the setting for Franco-Algerian HayetThe current collection includes T-shirts, a shopping bag, a hat, socks and above all an overshirt which is the flagship model. “I was inspired by the jacket, which is a traditional Djerbian garment. I always saw my grandfather wear it. I transformed it into a non-gendered garment, produced from artificial fibers whose production requires very little water and energy. »
The tone is set, and we quickly understand it by browsing the page dedicated to the project's crowdfunding, on the Ulule participatory platform. Camélia Barbachi wants to develop ethical fashion, based on her two cultures. The confection is therefore entrusted both to a professional integration workshop specializing in knitting in northern France, and to a production site located in Ksar Hellal, Tunisia, which meets very strict certification standards. “All that is important in the project, insists the young woman. Working with excluded people, having an impact both in France and in Tunisia…”
Sizes XXXL
In the photos presenting the products, the models posing, a young man and a young woman, are black and mixed race. No coincidence, again. "These are people I know," explains the designer. The multicultural dimension is fundamental to the project: as a woman of North African immigration, I have never really been able to identify with the images projected by the fashion industry. There are a few black models, but it remains rare. When you are an Arab woman or your morphology does not correspond to the standards, it is impossible to find your way around. Chez Nous also offers sizes up to XXXL.
Read Manifesto for a luxury industry "made in Africa"Anxious not to skip the stages, Camélia Barbachi first relies on crowdfunding to make herself known and make the project viable. The campaign, launched on October 5, initially aimed to ensure 100 pre-orders. The objective was quickly reached, the next level is at 250 pieces, which for the entrepreneur is the threshold of profitability. Other models will of course see the light of day. What if a classic distribution sign shows up? The young woman will study the proposals. "But I won't go to just any brand," she says. It will depend on the values it carries. “Ethical to the end, Miss Barbachi.
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