COMMUNITY

Point de Repère may never have opened its doors if it hadn’t been for the support and encouragement of the community I’ve built around me since moving back to Montreal. First and foremost the support from my new neighbours MAKTABA, a bookshop that I love and frequent (maybe too often). When Sundus, one of the owners - and someone I consider a friend - mentioned a few months ago that the space next door to them was available, I honestly didn’t think too much of it. At the time I wasn’t looking for a space and didn’t want to be tethered to a physical location (again). At least not at that point in time. But she must have planted a seed that slowly took root.

The next piece of the puzzle was put in place when I gave a talk on the circular economy in fashion as part of a new event series called Apocalypse & Apéritifs. The series was launched by a friend who emphatically supported the idea for Point de Repère when it was only a small seed of an idea.

The sustainable fashion community has always had something of a collective consciousness when it comes to strategy shifts. Maybe these are just a response to the natural order of things, and by this I mean a return to common-sense, regenerative, indigenous-led practices. But I’ve seen this phenomenon on more than one occasion in my 25-year career. The latest iteration would be Orsola de Castro - one of the co-founders of Fashion Revolution - launching My Mender, a global map of repair hubs and circular solutions.

I’ll take this as a sign that I’m on the right track…