We talk about quality, but what does that mean?

When we dress in size 44 and above, we are often limited to finding our clothes in fast fashion, which, let's face it, offers an impressive range. But when it comes to finding quality pieces, the story is much more complicated.

This is what motivated me to create Les Militantes. Why should we only be entitled to “cheap”? Why should we wear clothes made in India or Bangladesh by children? Why shouldn't we have the right to be careful about materials and finishes?

This is how it all began... And with this reflection, it was obvious that quality would be the key word for us. But once we've said that, what's behind it?

So, let’s take the life of a garment from its creation to its delivery.

First of all, you need to find a stylist who knows curvy bodies. And above all a designer who knows perfectly this universe very different from the universe of sizes 34... Because quality begins with cuts adapted to our bodies, and not cuts made for skinny bodies, which we would expand without taking into account our specificities.

When the modeler worked on her prototype, 2 of us tried it. 2 people who are the same size, but with completely different body shapes. Me, more in H, and my sidekick, more in 8. Each prototype is tried as many times as necessary so that it can suit our two body types. So at the first fitting of pants, it took us 30 seconds to decide that all Militantes pants would be made in 2 different morphologies per size.

Another very essential point is the choice of fabrics and supplies. We had to touch, look at and weigh hundreds of them before finding what we were looking for... Heavy but fluid, opaque and supple fabrics. Crepes, gabardines, cotton-cashmere, wool-cashmere... We know immediately when we see them that these are the ones we want... We also know, that when we dress in Beyond 44, we never really had access to all that. And since we want something beautiful, then no plastic buttons. Long live mother-of-pearl and corozo!

For the fabric pieces, they are made in Parisian workshops, which allows us to go on site as many times as necessary to ensure that everything is done according to the rules of the art. We look at each finish, we make sure that there are no little threads sticking out, that the fabric does not fray, that the buttonholes are well done, that the sewing is solid. For the mesh pieces, made in Portugal, we ensured that quality control is continuous in the workshop. We work on the prototypes in direct collaboration with the workshop, which, after validation, sends us the "first series" of each model so that we can validate the quality before launching final production. This allows us to have a “quality standard”, and if the production is not identical to what was validated, to redo it.

And once all this is manufactured, we take great care of the packaging, the box for your order. We won't tell you any more about this. You still have to keep a few surprises...