Clément MAULAVÉ (TBS 2017) - Hopaal banks on the zero waste trend

Hopaal is banking on the zero waste trend! 

Hoody sweatshirts, plain, straight-cut shirts, wrap-around skirts : all 100 % cotton.

At first glance, the clothing by the brand Hopaal appears to be nothing out of the ordinary. Apart from one very significant detail : they are all manufactured on a local circuit using recycled material.

This initiative came to life in 2016 within the School when Clément Maulavé and his  friend Mathieu became business associates. They explain that they wanted to start their own business in order to preserve their freedom while having a positive impact on the planet. 

"Nothing is lost but everything is transformed"   

To make these models that are intentionally minimalist to escape fashion trends, Hopaal reuses cuts of material from secondhand shops, fishing nets and plastic bottles.  
Everything is shredded together, transformed into fibres and yarns before being assembled in sewing workshops mainly located in France and Portugal.
The entrepreneur is pleased to annonce that «This recycling system reduces our water consumption to 50 litres to make a t-shirt, compared to 2700 litres in classic production».

From the choice of raw materials to the removal of any plastic packaging and again, the choice of distribution : nothing is left to chance. «In order to avoid producing for nothing, we send a questionnaire to our customers before each new design to identify their needs and we work a great deal with pre-orders.»

Ethics have a price. Count 80€ for a sweat-shirt and 150€ for a woollen jumper. The young entrepreneur is sad to say that «Consumers have got used to paying less than 20€ for a t-shirt less, without taking into account the social and environmental cost. The clothes by Hopaal are sold at their real price all year round.» The customers give a fair return on investment. In 3 years,  the start-up from the Basque Country which has 4 full-time employees, has already signed 10000 loyal customers and the sale revenue in 2019 was 450000€.