A Brand for the Future: AS’FALL

Discover with this So Chic article, AS’FALL, a timeless and young brand, for every woman all around the world. Learn about the founder’s, Astou, vision for the brand. The original philosophy was to propose another Fashion state of mind and this spirit is still alive. Continue reading to find out more.

In this day and age, climate change is becoming a major creating more natural disasters than ever before such as the California fires. However, we cannot expect humans to abandon our modern ways. This is why sustainability is extremely important because it strives to protect our natural environment, human and ecological health, while driving innovation and not compromising our way of life.The fashion industry represents 10% of humanity’s carbon emissions, this is more than international flights and maritime shipping combined. emits more carbon. The impact of fashion goes beyond carbon emissions that contribute to climate change. The fashion industry is the second-largest consumer of the Earth’s water supply. Additionally, due to the constantly changing collections, such as Zara with 16 collections per year, 85% of all textiles end up in landfills or in oceans. Another impact on the oceans is due to washing some type of clothes that send thousands of microplastics directly to the sea, thus, polluting the ocean.

However there is good news since brands are increasingly working to become more ecological. Today, there even exists brands that are built around sustainability. For example, one of our own So Chic Brands is an ethical fashion brand: AS’FALL. This is a brand that was born in 2009 in Lausanne, Switzerland and since then has strived to become as sustainable as possible.

Sustainability is based on three pillars: Economic Development, Social Development, and Environmental Protection.

AS’FALL focuses on the social or humanitarian aspect of it. They work directly with no third-party involved with the men and the women who make their clothes. This ensures the highest handmade quality possible in the clothes and that the people working are payed directly and fairly.AS’FALL chooses to associate themselves with men and women who share the same values, passions and respect for the human being. They work with small family businesses and communities who have a long craftsmanship experience since generations. For example, some specialize in embroidery, beading, dyeing or weaving.

They also base themselves on the ecological pillar through these different actions:

• They choose to produce very small quantities of each design.
  
  
• They don’t produce fabrics and instead use the fabrics that have been discarded by the world of fashion
  
  
• They do not follow the frenzy and the constantly changing fashion trends choosing to make instead timeless
  
  
• They make their own dyes, embroidery, beading, weaving and so forth
  
  

Another very important action they have taken is to offer alteration services. They especially offer free alternation services for any length with a 48h delay. All these actions are so important as they prevent so many textiles from going to landfills or worse ending up in the ocean killing marine wildlife.

AS’FALL still offers unique and timeless pieces that fit in any wardrobe. You will always find something that works for you. They are available to advise you, help you to add timeless and easy-to-wear pieces to your closet.

  Come check out their boutique at :28 Haji lane Singapore

Behind AS’FALL with Astou

Astou's own creations and independent fashion designers collections were the main articles to see in her a unique retail boutique. Her passion and dedication have made of AS’FALL a respected reference for the fashion designer scene. New countries, new way of life, different culture, Astou knows how to listen to any woman.

Why AS'FALL?

It’s my name. I was raised by my maternal grandmother, she was the only one who called me As’Fall and when she called me that, it was usually because I did something wrong. The funny thing is that she was the only one who called me that and since she passed away, my mother started to often call me by As’Fall. 

We were just looking for a name, I couldn’t find anything, so one day I said “Well, I’ll call it As’Fall”. My full name is Astou Fall so we just contracted it.

What brought you to Singapore?

I didn’t know Asia at all. In France, the concept of my shop is starting to disappear because it’s not easy to be 100% focused on one only brand as we are 100% AS’FALL. There are a lot of small shops in this spirit but they are multi-brands which are entrepreneurs who buy different brands and resell in their shops, it’s not pure creation like I do. After Lausanne, we went to Miami for some years and then we came here in Singapore. Each time, we realized that everyone can take their place, you just have to bring something different with a certain quality where there is demand. I also already knew the steps. Singapore is the third country where I created AS’FALL, even if at the time there were some problems, I took the time to do it so it was done quite quietly and smoothly.

Why Haji Lane? Was it a choice or a chance?

It was a choice! I used to walk down the street and loved it at the time but since the Covid, 17 shops have closed down. It’s expensive and when we were in the pandemic, if you didn’t have your own customers, you couldn’t keep going so a lot of shops closed down as they were running a lot with tourists. There are a lot of tourists who come to this street in normal times. Haji Lane for me, is one of the places in Singapore where you can feel the life and it’s full of people! Normally there’s music, set-ups everywhere with bars and restaurants and the mosque area so it’s unique. The street is also full of street art and I really like it. In Miami, we were also in a neighborhood a bit like that but much bigger with street art which I like a lot.

How was AS'FALL created? Why a clothing line?

I’ll try to summarise because the story is long! At the beginning I was working in Paris in business management for an architect. I was in charge of the financial and administrative side and I worked there for 5 years after graduating. Then my husband and I decided to leave because it rained too much in Paris. We went to Cuba for 6 years far from the rain. Very quickly, after a few months, I met a very talented woman with magic hands in sewing and she taught me everything. I only knew fashion through modelling. For years, my older sister and I did a lot of modelling in Paris and that’s how we discovered fashion. Later on, this Cuban woman taught me all the secrets of couture. So when we left Cuba I said to myself “I’m not going to get back into management, it’s not for me”. And I created AS’FALL. It wasn’t planned, it wasn’t something I had in mind and if I had told my parents at the time that I was going to study fashion, they wouldn’t have let me. Today, they see that you can make a very good living with fashion. So here is a great summary of how AS’FALL was born.

What is the inspiration for your designs?

The designs are just created like that, it’s the fabric that inspires me. I have ideas and when I see and touch the fabrics, I just think that this dress would be perfect with this or this fabric. I also often work with pieces that are 90% timeless and it’s important. My daughter is 20 years old and when she comes back on holiday, she wears AS’FALL’s clothes and I think it’s cool because it means that it’s not has-been. When girls have parties, they ask me. A lot of girls come to AS’FALL for their graduation dresses. It’s timeless and speaks to many generations from my daughter’s age to 70. In fact, my oldest customer is 74. The designs come to me as I go along.  I always do capsule collections between 5 and 10 designs each time I have a very clear idea of what I’m going to release. The collection I just released today has 10 designs and in small quantities. When I see that a certain piece has sold well, I do it again but I always change something: either the fabric or the details.

To say, at the moment I think I have 200/300m of fabric and I honestly don’t know what to do with it. I liked them, they were delivered to me and now I don’t know what to do with it. But I’m sure one day I’ll wake up and I’ll know what to do. It’s a feeling, a spontaneous inspiration. Our team is made up of 5 people now and we pay attention and listen a lot to our clients so we take the good and bad feedback. From there I create my designs with their feedbacks in mind.

Besides the Senegalese culture, do you draw inspiration from other cultures?

I’m French-Senegalese, I lived in Dakar until I was 12 years. If not very often when people come into the shop, I hear the customers talking to each other and saying “Ah it’s very different, we feel that there is something very chic, something French but we also feel something African” and when I hear that, I say to myself “Well that’s me, I’m Senegalese and French and I’m also Mauritanian”. So, without making an effort, I am necessarily inspired by my roots, you can’t erase what you are and I am happy people feel it when they enter the shop!

What is your approach to slow fashion?

I have this dress called ‘undulating’ since the beginning of AS’FALL and it comes back very often with its embroidery. Everything you see as embroidery or beading is handmade. It takes a day to bead a whole dress (blue dress on picture below) and a strip of embroidery (black dress on picture below) takes 3 days. We also sell some pieces that are more ‘haute couture’ but we stay at mid-range prices. The idea is to make “accessible” clothes. I try to be accessible to the market. I source fabrics from France, Indonesia and Singapore. They send me catalogues, I touch, look, then buy the fabrics that I like and inspire me. I also don’t produce fabric even if I want to because there are studies that show how much we pollute by producing fabric. Everybody should stop producing fabric and use the stock that we have and trust me there is a huge stock in the world. AS’FALL will also always use noble fabrics (linen, silk, cotton…), there will be no polyester and if there is in some materials, it will never be more than 10% because we cannot recycle beyond 10% .

How did you develop your client base?

When you’re a small company, the big challenge is the communication strategy and it’s a big job as it’s very expensive. I remember when I first started, we weren’t really on social media. One day, my little brother came to me and said “Hey, there’s this new app that came out, you take pictures and post it online” and I said “Do you think I have time to do that?”. I really didn’t believe it, I didn’t listen to him, I didn’t do it and now I really regret it. So we did the traditional advertising: the posters that we put up everywhere and paid a lot of money for. I used to do it from time to time and then word of mouth started. In a small town, this is really the best way to get known. We give a lot of advice, we accompany a lot, there has never been a sale where we let a customer leave with something that doesn’t fit her. We tell her “no, this is not for you, come back in a month or two, maybe there will be something that suits you better” because if we let our customer leave with an article that doesn’t fit, they won’t feel good, they might not get any compliments, whereas if they feel pretty, they’ll get a million compliments and that’s it, that’s an acquired customer and they will come back every month. 

Do you use social networks now?

We mainly communicate through our website and Instagram. Thanks to social medias now, we even have clients who come back every week and we have to tell them to regularly check our Instagram account to see if we’ve posted anything new otherwise there is nothing new coming in the shop. 

When I first came in Singapore, I thought “Ok we’re going to start do something on Instagram” because everyone was telling me that we should and my little brother was right, we really do sell through social networks. There are times when we post a new design ‘coming soon’ and we don’t even have time to bring it into the shop as everyone already reserved all the stock. I can promote 10 designs and post them on Instagram for example and 2 days later, we have around 15 messages of reservation. It’s amazing how sometimes we really don’t have time to put the clothes on the website because by the time we take a picture and put it online it’s already sold out.

Know more about Senegalese culture…

It’s normal to go and buy your fabric at the market and go to the tailor to make your top, dress, trousers… You can make your own clothes. It’s really part of the tradition and culture.

Thank you very much for your time Astou! – So Chic Team and IFS students