Esperanza Teran Conde's heart beats for textile. As founder and designer of Teran Conde Paris, she conceives a sustainable wardrobe for every day. Her ambition is to take action for a more responsible future. In this spirit, Esperanza has conceived the Lolita jacket and Lola skirt using dormant fabric stocks from the Fallas for ethical consumerism. Let us tell you a little bit about the story of this magnificent and traditional Spanish fabric!
Teran Conde Paris and the Fallas fabric
In the continuum of designing sustainable fashion, Esperanza, the creative mind behind Teran Conde Paris, always chooses her textiles from dormant fabric stocks from luxury Maisons and craft workshops and factories.
Born and raised between Madrid and Alicante, Esperanza always has known
the tradition of the Fallas fiestas in Valencia and their specific costumes. But it wasn’t until recently that Esperanza heard that the Fallas fabric had some dormant stocks! Eventually, the idea of using Fallas fabric as a signature for Teran Conde Paris began to grow in her mind. This is how the Lolita set was born. Eye-catching and bold yet elegant, the Lolita set is the iconic piece of Teran Conde Paris.
"My motivation has always been to make conscious fashion founded on sustainable values with ecological materials." Esperanza Teran Conde, founder of the brand
With growing success, Esperanza and Bea, her business partner and friend, have visited several ateliers in Valencia that still make the Fallas fabric, to discuss using more of their dormant stocks!
As a sustainable clothing brand in Paris, Teran Conde Paris’ approach to fashion implies both upcycling luxury fashion fabrics and an environmentally friendly, local, and thoughtful production.
How is the Fallas fabric made today?
Nowadays, the Fallas fabric is made to order in small quantities as it is a precious fabric made from silk, and it requires a great craft savoir-faire. Teran Conde Paris only sources fabrics from dormant stocks in the Valencian ateliers.
Handweaving loom for the Fallas fabric
Made on a hand-weaving loom from silk yarn, this process requires a long and careful preparation: several cardboards indicate to the craftsman or craftswoman how to weave and when to move the various yarns. Before starting to weave, it is necessary to choose a pattern and a specific color for the background. Numerous patterns of Fallas fabrics have been designed over the years, among which the most famous are Reina, Valenciano, Carpio, and Alcázar.
Once the pattern is set, we can choose the colors of the pattern, with as many as one color for each flower! Then begins the weaving process. It is extremely long and craves undistracted attention to follow the pattern closely.
Within a day’s work, an artisan can weave only a 20 cm length of fabric on a width of 54cm! In other words, it demands patience and precaution.
Power loom for the Fallas fabric
In this mechanized process, the only variation from the previously described making of the Fallas fabric is that this type of loom uses power to function. Though the quality of the yarn is identical as it is silk in both cases, the power loom allows a quicker making of the fabric. The Fallas fabric made on a power loom is also 54cm wide.
One way to distinguish these two similar fabrics is to have a close look at the patterns: Fallas fabric made on power looms will always have the same yarn color for the patterns located on the same height, as it is made on a mechanized loom, which doesn’t offer the possibility to weave with various yarn colors on the same level.
Another difference is noticeable on the edge of the fabrics: hand-weaved silk Fallas fabric has its yarn coming back to the other side when reaching the edge, whereas mechanized weaved silk Fallas fabric has a trimmed fabric edge.
Read our previous post to know more about the Fallas tradition!