lesaya

"I was in London on a shoot, as I was at drama school at the time. Léa is a very close friend of mine, who I knew from fashion school. Back then we sat in a pub, and I said to her that I've always wanted to start a fashion brand." Teresa Klamert, one of the founders explains the start of her brand. In 2020, she founded the fashion brand Lésaya together with Lea Hustin. Both had studied fashion in London and then worked in the industry. Léa at British Vogue and Teresa at German InStyle, among others. The name Lésaya came from a mix of their two nicknames.
In 2021, Catarina von Lerchenfeld, a Munich-based bespoke tailor and fashion designer, joined the team. Lésaya was launched in October 2022.

After reflecting on their own consumerism, they looked for ways to combine their ethical and aesthetic values. In developing their own brand, it was important to them to counteract overproduction. Moving away from short-term trends to fairly produced and timeless garments.

"Producing new garments is not sustainable. For us, the key is to buy less and reuse, recycle, mix, and match our pieces. All of our garments are designed to be versatile and wearable for any occasion."

For the collection, only leftover fabrics and components are used to create a circular economy through an upcycling process. "We work with designer fabrics that would otherwise be thrown away or overproduced. We buy these fabrics and reprocess them - give them a new life. This process is great because there is just this cycle, this circularity." All fabrics are from Italy with the highest quality and certified sustainability seals. Even the zippers are leftovers from fashion houses that would normally be thrown away. The buttons are made from recycled components. Scrunchies are created from small scraps of fabric that are left over from tailoring. They pride themselves on really not throwing anything away.

The Musu Ka Yele, an organization in Bobo Dioulasso, Burkina Faso that helps women maintain their autonomy and become aware of their potential

With each collection, they support a charity. With this drop, they are helping Musu Ka Yele, an organization in Bobo Dioulasso (Burkina Faso) that helps women maintain their autonomy and become aware of their potential. Muse Ka Yele is supported with the production of the Lésaya market bags. All bags are handmade in Burkina Faso from fabric scraps from markets and households. Each time someone buys a set, the customer receives a free bag and 100 percent of the profit they would have made goes to the organization. If the customer just buys a bag, the organization receives 35 percent.