Sophie is wearing the white linen t-shirt in size S
Laurent is wearing the white linen t-shirt in size L
No artificial lighting, no touch-up or artifice. Our photos are natural, sincere, and authentic. No professional models, with a perfect built-up body but simply our team with their natural body (but just as perfect). Thanks to our team for taking part 🙏
Prelude
It is no secret that the textile industry is one of the world’s most polluting industry. The distances travelled to produce a t-shirt from start to finish are irrational and we still throw several million tons of clothes away each year.
The negative impact of this industry on the environment is huge and contributes massively to climate change.
Fast-fashion brands produce more collections than what we are able to wear. Prices are very attractive and push consumers to buy more, at the detriment of the quality and the product’s manufacturing conditions.
What if the solution was simply to slow down and replace ethic at the heart of our approach. To buy quality clothing that lasts throughout time, as universal and timeless in style as possible, going through seasons and years smoothly, without planned obsolescence.
With your support, we have launched our Comme Avant textile workshop to make long-lasting clothes. We've dealt with each topic thoroughly, without any greenwashing.
Choosing our clothes it's choosing to:
- Know everything about a product, from its design to its manufacturing.
- Not falling into fast-fashion and entering a mindful consumption approach.
- Supporting French expertise and craft.
An organic linen t-shirt
Our linen t-shirt is basic and has a universal straight cut, slightly waisted. It wasn't made to fulfil conventional fashion rules but to be worn and to be comfy.
Its slim but rather large cut adapts to all morphologies, with model ranging from XS to XXXL (equivalent to 34 - 52).
We use knitted organic French linen 200g/m² and not woven as you might be used to seeing in other brands. The material is softer. The knitting is very tight to avoid the t-shirt from being see-through. It is also very resistant with strong seams to make it last throughout the years.
A happy encounter
After obtaining an arts degree and a textile design diploma, an unexpected but happy news showed up and turned her world upside down. Her determination to offer the best to her child changed her priorities in life.
She is against mainstream fashion: delocalised mass-production, poor qualities, and over-consumption. She then decides to join our team and create the "Comme Avant Textile Workshop".
Today, she managed a small seamstress team to make ethical products. They only make around fifty t-shirts each week. You will therefore appreciate high-quality raw material and our team's expertise.
A handcrafted and sustainable production
The conception, the modeling, the making are done by hand in our workshop, using traditional methods. Nothing is delocalised, we want to ensure a local and quality manufacturing.
Our t-shirts have been tested in a lab to ensure their quality. These are the tests which were conducted with success :
- Textile twisting after a wash
- Dimensional stability
- Fabric propensity during stretching on surface and bobbling
- Products toxicity (levels of formaldehyde and heavy metals)
- Resistance to tearing
- Dye stability on printed labels
Here are the results :
- After a wash with the recommended washing instructions, there is no significant change, slight bobbling, slight colour degradation.
- No textile twisting on the seams.
- After the first wash, the t-shirt shrinks on average of 5%.
- After a 48h washing machine test, the fabric presents a medium bobbling on the surface with no weakness in the fabric.
- No splitting or marks left by pressure.
- No presence of heavy metals.
Follow our size guide to choose your size
Please check our size guide in which we have put a lot of information to help you choose the right size to fit your morphology. All measurements are written in cm.
If you're hesitating between two sizes, we would recommend choosing the biggest size as during the first wash, linen shrink on average of 5%. For the women's t-shirt, if you're in between two sizes and you're looking for a more adjusted fit, we recommend choosing the smaller one.
In case of a size problem or a default, you simply need to contact our customer service team to receive a free return label and get a refund or an exchange.
Natural raw materials
Our t-shirt contains 90% of organic GOTS-certifed linen jersey and 10% of organic GOTS-certified cotton for the finishing touches (collar, thread, label, and sleeves).
Linen is the most eco-friendly, local, and natural fabric available in France. It grows by itself needing nothing more than rainwater.
Linen jersey is a living fabric, free from any synthetic products. The fabric will live each moment, meaning it can shrink and loosen during your wash cycles, your activities, and your life while staying extremely resistant.
Our t-shirt doesn’t contain any polyester, polyamide, viscose, acrylic, acetate, elastane, or any other products derived from petrochemicals.
We don’t dump anything in oceans or rivers, and therefore avoid contaminating fauna or flora.
A TOTAL TRANSPARENCY
Let’s be honest and accurate on our raw materials. You deserve this.
Fabric: 100% organic linen, GOTS-certified, whitewashed using hydrogen peroxide (thread oxygenation without solvent or heavy metals), no colouring. Origin: linen cultivated in Normandie (France) and knitted in France.
Thread: 100% organic and GOTS-certified cotton. Origin: cotton cultivated and threaded in the Netherlands.
Bias: 100% organic and GOTS-certified cotton. Origin : cotton cultivated in India, Benin or Tanzania. Bias manufactured in France.
Label : 100% organic and GOTS-certified cotton. Origin: cotton threaded in Italy, labels manufactured and printed in France.
GOTS-certified fabrics
Our linen t-shirt is certified GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) which bans the use of heavy metals, but also unacceptable working conditions.
This certification was established 12 ago and is, to date, the only one that can certify that a fabric is organic.
Other certifications exist such as Oeko-tex, but this one only certifies that there are no toxic products in the fabric.
GOTS was the best way to ensure our standards.
Last but not least, no animal product is used in our clothing, or its manufacturing process. They are fully vegan.
Fair-priced craftwork
For different reasons, ethical fashion has a price.
- The raw materials used are 100% natural. The linen used is French as all the transformation steps are in France. It is not a mix of fibres, conventional or synthetic fabrics which would enable to lower the price.
- Our fabrics are GOTS-certified, the only existing organic certification in the textile industry.
- Our t-shirts are handmade in our Comme Avant workshop, using traditional machines. We produce less than 20 garments per day.
For our clothes to be accessible to as many people as possible, we chose a fair cost. A cost that ensures a high quality handmade t-shirt.
For some, our clothes might seem expensive, but believe us, by doing the right thing, it is hard to offer a lower price. Margins are calculated at the lowest level but transparency and quality have a non-negligible cost.
A minimalist packaging
Just like our cosmetics, we’ve opted for a simple and natural packaging.
You’ll received your t-shirt in a nice kraft box, without any plastic. If our t-shirt is a gift, this small box can be used as wrapping paper.
The labels and kraft parcels are biodegradable. You’ll find nothing superfluous in our package, except an information leaflet made out of recycled paper.
Cleaning advice
Even though linen is a resistance fabric, knitted linen is delicate and needs taking care of.
To wash your t-shirt, we recommend using a 30°C wash cycle with gentle spin for a daily care and if necessary, a maximum of 40°C for intensive cleaning. We also recommend washing your t-shirt in a washing net to avoid zips, clips, or the drum damaging your t-shirt.
To dry it, we recommend not using a dryer but leaving it to dry on a clothes airer.
To iron it, try not going over the second dot on your iron (equivalent to 150°C) and use the steam mode to soften your piece of clothing.
If you stain your t-shirt, apply a natural stain remover (our soap for example) as soon as possible, leave in on for around 10 minutes, and wash it on a 40° wash cycle (gentle spin). When washed, the stitches shrink slightly. By ironing using a steam mode, this will loosen the fibre and your t-shirt will regain its suppleness.