Kévin Germanier

There are a lot of clichés about upcycling. One of them is that it is impossible to produce on a large scale due to the lack of large amounts of fabric available. But I think that this isn’t true. We can work with large quantities with upcycling as long as we try to find solutions. Nona Source, for example, provides designers and brands with large quantities of unused fabrics.Upcycling is my only way of producing, a journalist told me one day: “In fact, you wouldn’t know how to create without upcycling”. She was right. I used to always go to Guérrisol and buy cheaper fabrics. For instance, the down that I use for my prototypes. I think we all need to spend more time looking for ways around problems and less time saying that things aren’t possible.

Yes, of course, but we need to know how to take a step back. A brand like Germanier is allowed some flexibility, that is because we are only about thirty people and because we don’t produce thousands of references each year. That being said, I avoid throwing stones at larger brands as they do not necessarily have the logistical possibility to be as flexible as they wish. It is easy to criticise large companies where changes don’t happen fast enough. The reality is that changing something, even something small but on a large scale, always takes a lot of time. I often take the example of LVMH, since I used to work there. At the time, they were trying to transition from plastic cups to paper cups. This may seem like a simple task, but because of the large scale, it took three months. You have to work for a big company to understand what it takes to operate such a machine. Changes are always possible. But the flexibility obviously depends on the scale of what needs to be changed.

I use materials that are available. At the moment I am making PVC bags because it is what I have access to. Some people tell me that it would be better if they were made out of leather. I agree that leather is more luxurious, but this is not how I work. Upcycling is the revaluation of materials.

Give me any material and I’ll show you that with work it can turn into luxury. At the moment I have a lot of polyester. Why ? Simply because there is a lot of polyester waste. If it were organza I would obviously be delighted, but this is unfortunately not the case. Most people still have trouble fully understanding the whole principle. One of the criticisms I often get is that there are flaws in my sequins… this is the very principle of upcycling, and that does not mean that the piece is less beautiful, on the contrary… it has more character.

I have no problem with the concept of upcycling or being called an “upcyclist”. It is indeed what I am and what I’ve been doing since the beginning. What bothers me a little bit is the current tendency to believe that new designers invented upcycling. But that is not the case. This practice has always existed. My grandmother, for example, used to go every Sunday to Mass in a traditional dress. There was a little velvet lapel, and when it got damaged, she sewed a little flower on it. Whether it was great designers like Vivienne Westwood, or my grandmother, everyone was upcycling back then. Then one day we realised we had the possibility of producing 10 identical t-shirts all in 10 different colours. And this is when the system started being abused. We therefore naturally came back to the way it used to be done… But we haven’t invented anything really.

Yes we have a need to put labels and explain. I think that techniques are the same as before, but then the creativity comes within the universe of our brand. Germanier is like a sequin or a Swarovski crystal. The universe of the brand goes far beyond upcycling. The product is not sufficient to describe Germanier. What I want is for Germanier to be a company with strong values and business mentality… We recently decided to go to Brazil and work with prisoners and people from local trans communities. It all goes with the message : I don’t intend to sell 10 million pieces of clothing per season, instead I want to use the money and the platform that is Germanier to progress with causes that I care for.

Yes it is obvious. Everyone must find the dynamic that suits them best. I often talk about this with other designers, and we often realise that what works for one does not necessarily work for others. In the end, the really creative side is 10% of our work, the rest is finding a design that suits us, that is in line with our values and that does as little harm as possible. The reality of a young business is that we are always in the rush ! At least we don’t get bored. And with upcycling, it’s hard to predict. Season after season I never know what I’m going to do because if for example I only find black fabrics, I will have no choice but to create something… black. That’s the beauty of what we do.

My goal in reality is to be appointed head of a large house, one that believes in me. I am well aware that this is where we must try to change things, from the inside. With Germanier, I can choose how I work, it’s a nice platform, but it will never be as powerful as when a giant has the courage to appoint an upcycler as its head. Now that would be a real statement. We would have to make concessions on both sides, but there would be a really interesting discussion there, in my opinion.

A second show at the Palais de Tokyo. I wanted the first show to be an introduction to Germanier, something naturally obvious. We did only the best in order to introduce ourselves to the press. We had grandma’s knitting, feathered dresses, and silicone technique. This time, so that there would be no possible comparison between the first and the second show, I did the total opposite. We talk about chaos, we talk about mutation. Did you see the movie Annihilation with Natalie Portman? It is a metaphor for cancer but with very beautiful images. It is monstrous, but the mutation is extremely beautiful. Upcycling means mutating raw material. I really liked the comparison. We created some pieces that turned out to be pretty amazing and out of my usual field. I even asked myself whether I should take some of these pieces away as they were very far from my universe. But in the end, one can’t control chaos. So I decided to leave them, they are paradoxically my favourite looks. Because they are the ones for which I am most vulnerable. They are not the most “Swiss” looks but I tell myself: it is what it is!

It is true that those to whom I showed the collection also preferred these looks. I think it is

because they are totally unexpected and very different from what we usually do. For example, raw edges. In general, I dislike them. But here almost the whole collection has raw edges. It looks destroyed, like a big mess. Be careful though, the silhouette always remains the basis of Germanier. We must never forget that it is the body that we dress.

I have always said Dior, because aesthetically it is the house closest to Robert Piguet. But I’m not going to be picky. I tell myself that the more we write it, the more it will fit into people’s minds .. “yes, it’s Kevin who has to go to Dior”!

Propos recueillis par Pauline Marie Malier

Photos : Valentin Le Cron

Translation by Jessica Jensen