Since a couple of months, we are lucky to be working together with Constant & Zoé.
Constant & Zoé is a French clothing brand that specialises in making clothing for people with disabilities. Just like So Yes, they develop clothes that are easier to put on than normal clothes, for children, adults and seniors. With their clothes, the disabled person does not need to make any painful move.
As this brand designs stylish products that are a nice addition to the So Yes range, we saw the great opportunity to work together.
To get to know the story behind the brand better, we decided to interview the founder, Sarah Da Silva Gomes.
Where did the idea come from?
Constant is my brother, he was born with a strong handicap and he is completely dependent today. It is very hard to dress him because of his spasticity. Constant has very stiff arms and he is not able to extend or bend his arms to put on a sweater. Other people with handicaps are in the same situation and that is the reason why I started to make adaptive clothing and launched the brand Constant & Zoé in 2015. Constant means‘perseverance’ in Latin and Zoé means‘life’ in Greek. That is what are brand stands for: 'Persevering and living despite the disability and the disruption that it implies
Today, our collections are created for different people : kids, adults, seniors with different disabilities
What has been the highlight of journey so far?
Constant & Zoé is a huge and wonderful adventure ! We went through different key stages/steps :
- Hiring the first employee and building a team of 10 people
- Succeeding in 2 fundraising (in 2017 & 2019) with famous and experienced investors and entrepreneurs like M. POLLET, Promod’s founder.
- Welcoming the First Lady, Brigitte Macron, to our office and organizing a meeting between some customers and her team to talk about handicap in France.
- But the most important and what has to stay the “highlight” for us and our target : Customers' Happiness ! Constant & Zoé has 5.500 clients who send us photos with our clothes and very nice messages and comments every week ! The most important acknowledgement.
What is the brand philosophy?
Confucius said : “Choose a job you love and you won’t have to work a day in your life”.
We are convinced that if we work to improve society, the pleasure of work and the value of work will be back. People will grow up and become better people like this.
To reach this goal, choosing a mission that has a positive and fair impact is the perfect way !
What are the brand ethics?
We expect to giving a positive image of handicap to change people look. Even if it is really difficult to control every part of our supply chain, especially in factories, we try to be transparent and fair about our productions (working conditions).
Daily, I try to involve everyone in the company and our strategies. I also inform the team about decisions which are not directly linked to their main missions. This is my priority to transfer Constant & Zoe’ s identity to everyone and build a nice company with fair values.
Trying to make the society better start by building a company with a happy team.
What is the mission for the brand?
Above all, in our business, there is a strong close link between our sales and our social impact. We develop clothes which are easier to put on than regular clothes. With our clothes, the disabled person does not need to make any painful move. For people really dependant we know that our products benefit to 2 persons at least: the person with disabilities but also to the caregiver. The more we sell our products the more our social impact is strong. Make life easier for people with disabilities is our first mission !
Our company also contributes to a more inclusive fashion landscape. Three design offices work with us to design our collections. They have immersed themselves in the world of handicap to understand needs and create technical solutions then. We want to bring a new vision of fashion; to reach this goal we federate different actors (especially on supply chain): design offices (from France), fabrics agents (from France), suppliers (from France and Europe), production agents (from France), manufacturers (From Portugal and Ukraine). We propose new design for clothing. Once we have identified a need, we think about technical solutions and draw models; we offer an universal and inclusive style then. This is really important to not create medical clothes but fashion ones and to talk about inclusive and “ingenious” clothes (gratifying adjective).
We are convinced inclusive fashion is the future and we daily work to greatly contributes to more inclusive fashion landscape.
How can the fashion industry help with climate change?
Fashion Industry is the second most polluting one in the world and we know that. We cannot pretend to act in favor a strong change but we really try to make decisions with reduced impact on the environment :
- With our brand, we condemn the fast fashion industry : we create one collection per year and we avoid overproducing (with the risk to have sold out sometimes but we try to only produce what we need for every season)
- We chose close countries for manufacturing to reduce transports
- End of series, defective items, demonstration clothing are never destroyed or thrown away. We give them to associations that help people with disabilities.
- We produce quality clothes: that lasts over time and does not require customers to throw away and change regularly
What are the biggest opportunities for the brand going forward?
Before covid-19, we sold clothes in institutions that take care of disabled people ; with physical sale. We have set up stalls for a few hours, which is the best way to spend quality time with people, and also allow people to try on clothes. We completely changed our business model because we no longer had the right to work in this way during confinements : we decided to be sold by retailers (medical ones) ! Now we have already 200 retailers in France and Belgium.
About communication, we have a new television show on January, 19, 2022 on a major French Tv Channel (M6) in the French program (Shark tank). You can discover how we succeeded in a fundraising on TV : https://youtu.be/NjmgmGVO0dc
What next for the brand?
Constant & Zoé must :
- be distributed in 500 stores at least,
- build a strong team,
- increase sales abroad
- and become profitable
to make sure we make life easier for disabled people and their caregivers for a long time !
Do you want more information about the clothing of Constant & Zoé? Do not hesitate to contact us.
Greetings,
Sofie & Jessie
