A crowdfunding campaign to finance phase 2 of the project is launched
Ethica x Attraction launches a crowdfunding campaign featuring a collection of reversible jackets upcycling materials from the pandemic.
Attraction, a Lac-Drolet-based clothing manufacturer known for its local Ethica clothing brand and for producing personal protective equipment during the pandemic, is launching a unique reversible jackets and bag collection upcycling fabrics from the pandemic.
“When COVID hit, it was important for us to find a way to contribute. We quickly adapted and transformed our
t-shirt and fleece operations to produce more than 500,000 face covers and thousands of certified level-2 medical gowns. Then governments turned quickly to disposable gowns and masks, leaving us with large inventories of premium leftover fabric. At Attraction, when life gives us lemons, we make lemonade!” says Sebastien Jacques, co-owner and VP business development at Attraction.
“Throwing away fabric is inconceivable to us and does not match our values. We had to find a way to upcycle this fabric! You can’t imagine how proud and excited we are today to launch our unique ethica jackets and tote bag made from upcycled medical gown fabric! This is the result of many weeks of work for the development and production teams and many trials and errors. Ethica jackets and tote bags are reversible and come in two colours that are impossible not to love, yellow & Grey. These two colors are very trendy this season!” says Julia Gagnon, VP Operations at Attraction.
MORE ABOUT OUR JACKETS
The yellow side of the jackets and tote is made from 100% woven polyester upcycled from leftover level-2 certified medical gown fabric. The grey side is made from 50% organic cotton/50% recycled polyester knit jersey fabric – the use of poly/cotton allows 10 plastic water bottles to be recycled per jacket. All stages of manufacturing (fabric production, cutting and assembly), are done within a radius of less than 100 km (yellow fabric) or 850 km (grey jersey fabric). Ethica jackets are reversible, lightweight, windproof, water repellent, washable, sustainable, and made from organic cotton & recycled polyester and covid-proof upcycled material.
Can we say our jackets and bag are COVID-proof? Not exactly! We use the same fabric as our medical gowns, but the seams are not COVID-proof. However, the fashionable assembly makes it so much nicer than a medical gown!
At Attraction we believe it’s important to reduce, reuse, recycle, upcycle and buy local in order to minimize our environmental footprint.
WHAT IS CROWDFUNDING AND WHY USE IT?
Kickstarter and La Ruche are funding platforms for creative projects. Project creators, like Attraction, set their project funding goal and deadline. If people like the project, they can pledge money to make it happen. If the project succeeds in reaching its funding goal, all backers' credit cards are charged when the deadline is reached.
Crowdfunding is one of the most accessible ways to raise money for a project. It’s an opportunity to share our work with a new and wider audience and gain their feedback and support. The funds raised by this campaign will finance the research and development costs associated with phase 2 of our project; rework the fabric and develop new products for Fall 2021 in order to upcycle all of the remaining fabric (20,000 meters).
Source: Julia Gagnon, Attraction Inc.
Photo: Johanne Bolduc
Legend: Julia Gagnon, VP Operations and Sébastien Jacques, VP Sales and co-owners