Adhesif Clothing Company
2019 Vendor Info
Originally born in Montreal, Melissa was influenced by her mother who worked in garment production for large scale clothing distributors in that city. Since experimenting with textiles most of her life, Melissa is proud to say she is self-taught.
Her first love has always been vintage clothing and she worked as a vintage clothing buyer for many years. This experience heavily inspired Melissa to create garments with older textiles because of the superior quality, detailing and special characteristics found in older garments.
There is a double advantage in using reclaimed materials; not only do they reduce waste in the environment, using second hand textiles also add distinctive personality to all of her eye-catching creations. Additional special finishing details are added to her designs like beautiful vintage buttons, hand pleating, hand stitched applique techniques as well as hand dying. Every one-of-a-kind hand-cut garment is made with up to 95% sustainable materials and are all locally made in Vancouver, BC.
Over the years, this eclectic line has caught the eye of local media and national media. Her work has been featured in multiple local & national media publications like FASHION & FLARE magazine as well as on television with the Knowledge Network & CBC to name a few.
Since 2003, Melissa has been designing and creating all of her garments from reclaimed and vintage materials saving thousands of pounds from the landfill. In this way her clients can continue looking good as well as feeling great about supporting sustainable design.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Everything has a story but it’s the silent stories found in handmade objects that create the most intrigue, romance and mystery. Forever captivated by yesteryear. From the warmth of the sound of vinyl records, to old family photos and recipes and the soul that perfectly imperfect handmade pieces - made with someone in mind- own.
Adhesif Clothing was stemmed from many things. The need to express individualism mixed with a love of nostalgia and the wonderous beauty of the fragility of nature.
When not in our studio handcrafting patchwork fabrics from our zero-waste process and creating one-of pieces for our collections we enjoy travelling where much of our inspiration comes from observing the street style of individuals “doing their own thing”.
After 16 years since the ah-ha moment came about for the upcycled clothing label we’re still proud to say that every single garment is still being tediously and lovingly handmade with up to 95% vintage and reclaimed materials.
