Ysé

Founded in 2012 by Clara Blocman, Ysé is a French lingerie and swimwear brand and Imparfaite's green favourite! For several years, Ysé has been committed to ecological, social and societal issues in order to offer sustainable and eco-responsible fashion. Committed to women, the company offers inclusive lingerie that adapts to all body shapes, allowing total freedom of expression. To be worn day or night, the collections are designed to magnify the body with a demanding approach: offering models without padding or shells. A made-to-measure approach in which each prototype, in each cup size, is worked on to guarantee ideal support and obtain a model that is as flattering as it is comfortable. This attention to detail is also reflected in the choice of quality materials and the creation of hand-painted prints.

86%

MORE SUSTAINABLE OR FRENCH MATERIALS
70%

PRODUCTS TRACED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH FAIRLY MADE
700

PIECES REPROCESSED BY THE H.A.W.A AU FEMININ TEAMS

"We have these two very strong prisms in Ysé: ecology and the feminine condition".

Can you introduce Ysé to us in your own words?

CLARA : Ysé is a brand that I created in 2012. It's a lingerie brand, which is our core business, but we also offer a range of swimwear and a little wardrobe to go with it. The brand has evolved a lot, initially it was lingerie for small breasts, for A and B cups, why? I had the image of the woman in the adverts, with very plump bodies, and we saw a lot of padded push-ups, as if a woman needed extra volume to feel seductive... At Ysé, we immediately offered bras without underwiring, because I wanted careful lingerie, full of lace details, adapted to small breasts. Then we had a lot of requests from women who shared our philosophy, because our invitation to trust was not just in our products, but also in our image. Today, we go up to an E cup, so the brand is much more inclusive!

What is your background, what led you to this project?

CLARA : Ysé is my whole professional life. I set up Ysé when I finished my studies and never did anything else. And why lingerie? Simply because I loved this product. For me, lingerie is a real piece of fashion and an integral part of my outfit.
At the time, there weren't many brands making pretty, affordable designs without padding. I also wanted to send a real message to women. At the time, lingerie was mainly seen through the prism of seduction, whereas for Ysé, it's above all an accessory for self-confidence, a way of sublimating and perceiving oneself beautifully.

What are the words that best define you?

CLARA That's not easy...I'd say "plural". It's a word I use a lot at Ysé. In fact, we've structured our annual events along those lines: there's the Ligne Privée for feeling sexy, Les Dessous Chics for skin-deep elegance, and Les Essentiels, which are the everyday pieces for a very comfortable day. I think that one and the same woman can wear everything and has many facets. I've never liked people saying that Ysé is romantic and sweet, we're something else too and a woman can embody several women.
Another word I would use is "free". The freedom to be versatile and self-confident.

Are these words to define Ysé or Clara?

CLARA They're words that sound like me too. I've always put a lot of myself into Ysé, and I've always hated being pigeon-holed. I was very young when I started Ysé and every year it's a new page. Ysé has grown with me too.

What are the attributes of good lingerie according to Ysé?

CLARA : First and foremost, you need a good material. That's where it starts.
At the start of a collection, we always meet all our suppliers, and we look at what they offer in terms of materials, embroidery, lace...
Sourcing materials is very important to us. All our suppliers are European and have unique skills. We're lucky to still have some very beautiful Calais lace, for example. These are crafts that are becoming rarer and rarer, and we need to preserve them like jewels.

What's your favourite piece of lingerie?

CLARA : I really like underwear, like bodysuits.
Swimwear too, which we launched in 2017. I really liked that period because it was very cheerful, it evokes summer, memories and holidays. These are also the jerseys that propelled us forward and made us a success. We made our reputation on the comeback of the elegant one-piece swimming costume with our "Paradis Terrestre" model. It's a plain, fairly chic, very low cut one-piece that put the sensual swimming costume back in the spotlight and launched us.
Since then, we've seen changes in fashion season after season: for a while, there was the fashion for prints, and last year, it was the fashion for the tiny "itsi bitsi" bikini.

Do you see trends coming back? Have you ever done a cycle?

CLARA : Absolutely. We're going back to our origins in 2012 after 12 years.
We went through minimalist styles and now we're back to something more frilly with bows, little ruffles and little covered buttons. The funny thing is that we draw a lot of inspiration from vintage in our creations and recently we've also been bringing out our first pieces.

How are you inspired by vintage?

CLARA : We shop a lot in the studio. We're always on the lookout to get started. For example, I once had a stroke of incredible luck at a garage sale in Normandy where I came across a lady selling dozens of pieces of vintage lingerie in impeccable condition, which I treasure.
Otherwise, the team includes 3 stylists who do at least two bargain-hunting sessions a year. They look everywhere for inspiration, they can go to London, Brussels or Amsterdam for example, and always to specialist second-hand stores.

How does the creative process work at Ysé?

CLARA : We think about our designs throughout the year. I really wanted to refine the framework of the collections we call our Annual Rendezvous. I didn't want the collections to be replaced every month, but rather to build a drawer over the year with different facets. So the Rendez-vous complement each other.
There's a Rendez-vous to make you feel sexier with the Ligne Privée, then an elegant Rendez-vous with Dessous Chics and so on. The same goes for swimwear, with a major launch called "Le Grand Bain", followed by "Plage Privée", with fewer models that are a little more daring, more in the spirit of jewellery swimwear with lurex, for example. I always do the first draft of this annual creative line in writing, with words. Then the styling team puts this intention into sketches and we iterate.

How would you define this season's key prints?

CLARA : Our main source of inspiration is vintage prints.We have an English supplier who hunts down and obtains the rights to the vintage prints he finds.It's an incredible base from which to pick and honestly, everything is sublime, you really have to work hard to choose.We also have an incredible resource in Anaïs, our style director, who paints. They also sometimes draw the motifs, which are then authentic Ysé.

What's your current obsession?

CLARA : The 90s without hesitation!We have a lot of Claudia Schiffer images in our moodboards at the moment.

Do you buy vintage for yourself too?

CLARA : Yes, I also buy vintage pieces for myself and honestly, I mainly go to Imparfaite. I don't have time to go to all the thrift shops and the best pieces are there. What I buy most in vintage are coats. It's the piece that stands out from the ordinary and quickly styles an outfit. I have lots of jackets and coats and I like to change them during the season depending on my mood.

Where does your love of vintage come from?

CLARA : From my mum, certainly. My mum was always very well dressed and very sensitive about her outfits. I love to recall images from my childhood when I buy vintage clothes today.

"Our great source of inspiration are vintage prints"

What do you think about the carbon impact of the textile sector today?

CLARA : At Ysé, the desire to do the right thing has always existed, right from the start, but it wasn't called CSR at the time.
But we didn't call it CSR at the time. The fact that we're making this clear to our customers is something we've done along the way.We've always done close import, by lorry and never by plane. That's always made sense to me. For example, when we started out, we couldn't meet our suppliers' minimum production requirements, so we used their offcuts, but we didn't call that upcycling at the time. We recovered elastics, fabrics, everything from different suppliers and tried to match the colours of their dormant stocks.
Today we produce our own materials, but growing up is good for us too, because as we've grown we've been able to access materials that have less impact on the environment, with labels such as lace made from Global Recycled Standard (GRS) fibres. By 2023, 86% of our products will be more responsible, meaning that their materials have been sourced in France, are made from organic, recycled or sustainable fibres and are certified. The aim is to reach 90% by 2024.

How did you go about raising your team's awareness of CSR issues?

CLARA : In all honesty, I didn't need to raise their awareness. Ysé is the spokesperson for a committed generation of women who are very aware of the environment and the status of women, which is also central to our story. Ysé has two very strong points of view: ecology and the status of women.
We have one person responsible for CSR at Ysé, which is rare for a small team. We have drawn up a roadmap with 3 important pacts that bind us:

Firstly, the Climate and Biodiversity Pact, which commits us to reducing our impact on the environment, in particular by using materials that have less impact on the environment throughout the manufacturing chain. There is also the 'circularity and sustainability pact', for which we have two main responses today. Firstly, the recycling of our fabric off-cuts to recreate new models.
Secondly, we are recycling second-hand bath products through our 'second life' initiative. Customers can bring their swimwear back to the shop, and together with the women's reintegration association 'Hawa au féminin', we clean these items, make minor repairs and embroidery, and then resell them.
Lastly, the "Social and Societal Pact", under which we undertake to audit our partner factories and ensure that working conditions are satisfactory within these structures. In this pact, we obviously make a strong commitment to women, who have been at the heart of our commitments from the outset. For example, we support the 'Rêv'Elles' association, which enables young women to be mentored by members of our team to help them in their professional development.

Do you have a brand or an ecological initiative that has inspired you recently (production method/ image/ material...) for Ysé?

CLARA : Yes, Fairly Made, with whom we've been working since 2022.
They've helped us with all the traceability of our materials, collecting data and making our supply chain transparent, as well as calculating the impact of our products. It's very reassuring.