We talk about quality, but what does it mean?

When it comes to dressing in sizes 44 and up, we're often confined to finding 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 have the right to "cheap"? Why should we wear clothes made in India or Bangladesh by children? Why shouldn't we have the right to scrutinize materials and finishes?

And so it all began... And with that in mind, it was obvious that quality would be the key word for us. But once you've said that, what's behind it?

So let's take a look at the life of a garment from creation to delivery.

First of all, you need to find a stylist who knows bodies with shapes. And, above all, a patternmaker who knows this very different world from the world of size 34s... Because quality starts with cuts that are adapted to our bodies, and not cuts made for skinny bodies, which we would enlarge without taking our specificities into account.

Once the designer had worked out her prototype, 2 of us tried it on. 2 people who are the same size, but with totally different morphologies. Me, more of an H, and my sidekick, more of an 8. Each prototype is tried on as many times as necessary to suit our 2 morphologies. So it took us 30 seconds on the first pants fitting to decide that all Militantes pants would be made in 2 different shapes per size. 

Another essential point was the choice of fabrics and supplies. Hundreds had to be touched, looked at and weighed before we found what we were looking for... Heavy yet fluid fabrics, opaque yet supple. Crepes, gabardines, cotton-cashmere, wool-cashmere... You know right away when you see them that they're the ones you want... We also know that when we dress in sizes larger than 44, we've never really had access to all this. And because we want beauty, we don't want plastic buttons. Long live mother-of-pearl and corozo!

Fabric pieces are made in Parisian workshops, so we can visit as many times as necessary to make sure everything is done properly. We look at every finish, making sure there are no little threads sticking out, that the fabric doesn't fray, that the buttonholes are well made, and that the stitching is solid. For knitwear made in Portugal, we ensure that quality control is continuous in the workshop. We work on prototypes in direct collaboration with the workshop, which, after validation, sends us the "first production runs" of each model so that we can validate quality before launching final production. This allows us to have a "quality standard", and if production is not identical to what has been validated, to redo it.

And once all this has been manufactured, we take great care of the packaging, the showcase for your order. That's all we have to say on the subject. It's important to keep a few surprises in mind...