Façon Jacmin, founded by twin sisters Alexandra and Ségolène Jacmin, merges the worlds of fashion and engineering to create sustainable, innovative denim. With a unique blend of creative and technical expertise, they are transforming the fashion industry one upcycled garment at a time.
hube: As twin sisters with distinct backgrounds, how do your personal experiences and perspectives influence the design process at Façon Jacmin? Could you share an instance where this duality resulted in a particularly innovative or unexpected outcome?
Ségolène Jacmin: I have a more academic and mathematical background, having studied civil engineering. I’m quite down-to-earth. I’ve always wanted to have my own brand of clothes I could wear every day and on all occasions. I loved Alex’s idea of innovating around denim and using that fabric in a more sophisticated way. She studied fashion design for five years at the well-renowned school La Cambre and worked at Maison Martin Margiela and Jean-Paul Gaultier before launching Façon Jacmin. Denim is a fabric that I find very accessible and suitable for everyone, but I really liked how Alexandra used it differently, revisiting the traditional codes of jeans.
During the first two years of Façon Jacmin, I managed the brand’s commercialisation myself. I decided to approach it differently, allowing me to be on the ground and get to know the people and clients. I also wanted to surprise people by commercialising the clothes. That’s why I came up with the idea of a mobile boutique – an old-timer truck decorated as a store with lights, a fitting room, shelves, racks and more. People loved the experience, and it proved to be a very successful way of selling. On Saturdays, I was at a fixed location in Antwerp and on Sundays, I was in Brussels.
h: Fashion often intertwines with societal issues. How does Façon Jacmin use its platform to address or advocate for social causes and which cause holds particular significance for both of you?
SJ: From the beginning, we opted for a local approach and decided to work with production sites located in Europe. Today, we collaborate with three ateliers in Italy, Bulgaria, and Portugal. Additionally, we source all our fabrics from Italy. We also aim to make fashion more sustainable by integrating upcycling into our collection. One of our long-term goals is to open our own upcycling atelier in Belgium.
h: Façon Jacmin’s journey from a mobile boutique to international acclaim is remarkable. If you could pinpoint a catalyst moment or decision that determined the brand’s trajectory, what would it be, and what lessons did you learn from it?
SJ: On a Saturday in Antwerp, while selling with the mobile boutique, I met a lady who mentioned that a store had become available just one street behind, on Kammenstraat, a good street. I left the mobile boutique for a few minutes to go and see it and decided to take the opportunity. This marked the first change, moving from a mobile boutique to a permanent physical store. This transition helped to grow and stabilise sales.
After managing the store successfully for three years, we sought extra international visibility and decided to export the brand via resellers worldwide. Before this, I was hesitant to present the brand to the wholesale market. I wanted to understand my target audience well and develop our expertise. Having our store and selling directly to our customers provided invaluable direct feedback. We had many tourists in our Antwerp store, including clients from China, the USA, and many Germans and Netherlanders. This made us think the brand could work well in those markets too, prompting us to explore more geographies and open the collection to wholesale.
h: Collaborations often spark creativity and innovation. If you could collaborate with a non-fashion entity or brand, such as a technology company or a cultural institution, who would it be and what would the collaboration entail?
Ségolène Jacmin and Alexandra Jacmin: We are very interested in collaborating with students from a Belgian or French school or high school of visual arts. We love working with the younger generation; they think differently, as their creativity is still unconstrained by financial or commercial targets. It would also provide a new way for Alexandra, who is the sole designer at Façon Jacmin, to create. Opening up the creative process to a group of people brainstorming with her would surely be an interesting and enriching experience.
The idea of collaborating with a school programme in technology and innovation also greatly attracts us. Combining technology and AI with our clothing would be fascinating, as it can be applied on various levels. For instance, it could be linked to production with ‘AI micro-factory production’ or integrated into the clothing itself with sensors, resulting in connected clothing. The possibilities are numerous. Ségolène, being a civil engineer by training, likes to integrate a more technological perspective into the creative business of a clothing brand.
h: As entrepreneurs and creatives, what do you find most rewarding about the work you do with Façon Jacmin?
AJ: The most rewarding aspect of my work, I believe, is collaborating with a team of people who believe in Façon Jacmin, share similar values, and dedicate all their energy to the brand. I am proud to work with these incredible people, including my sister.
h: The fashion industry is ever-evolving. How do you envision Façon Jacmin adapting to future trends and challenges while staying true to its core identity and values?
SJ: We consider the following trends as challenges for the fashion industry and foresee solutions to adapt and remain relevant in the future – the need for making fashion more sustainable, as well as the trend towards increased digitalisation and artificial intelligence.
Almost from the beginning, we chose to integrate upcycling into our collection. Initially, we focused on upcycling for our direct channels, but now we also offer upcycled collections to our resellers. This change in scale required us to convince production ateliers to follow us and adapt their methods, starting from panels of unstitched garments.
Additionally, we chose denim for its resistance and transgenerational character. Denim is probably the only fabric that becomes more beautiful with time, making it inherently sustainable. Many technological innovations have been developed to make denim even more sustainable, including the use of organic or regenerative cotton, special dyes, and techniques to create waterless denim, significantly reducing the amount of water needed for production. We also aim to be more digitally agile and are currently researching how to adapt and integrate these dimensions into Façon Jacmin. This includes improving our website, setting up a digital team to develop a consistent digital presence, and exploring plans to produce in micro-factories (AI-based production).
AJ: We plan to continue developing the upcycled project, aiming for it to become a major part of our collection. We are also exploring other solutions to become an even more eco-responsible brand, such as using deadstock fabrics, manufacturing part of the collection in Belgium and France, or having our own workshop, while staying true to our core identity and values.
h: What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced in building and growing Façon Jacmin, and how have you overcome them?
SJ: It’s quite intense to start a business from scratch; it often drains your energy. One of the biggest challenges is to endure and remain fulfilled in the long term. For that, it was crucial for us to surround ourselves with the right people – talented, passionate, positive, and constructive individuals who drive us forward and whom we can trust, creating a spiral of success. Additionally, you need to be aware of the future of fashion in terms of ecology and integrate it into our brand. Moreover, building and growing a fashion brand requires a certain amount of capital, and you need to plan and manage the financials well. As an engineer, I’m able to understand and manage those aspects. Growing quickly requires funds to cover production costs, and obtaining a bank loan, for instance, is one way to bridge the cash flow gaps.
AJ: One of the biggest challenges we have faced is developing the upcycled project to a production scale for our buyers. Finding a way to design clothes from vintage pieces creatively and in an easy way for sizing is a new approach to thinking, creating, and making clothing. Another significant challenge is advancing a lot of money to implement several actions for growth. It’s essential to always prioritise, know where we want to go, and have a clear guideline to avoid getting lost or neglecting our goals and values.
h: If you could distill Façon Jacmin’s brand essence into a single emotion or feeling, what would it be and why?
AJ: It’s like the feeling you get when you jump off a cliff, the sensation of lâcher prise or letting go. You’ve faced your fears, and nothing can stop you. You can find this essence in Façon Jacmin: when you wear our clothes, you let go and feel empowered, as if you have the strength to overcome anything. It gives you confidence and empowerment.
Photography courtesy of FAÇON JACMIN
