Clothes with
a conscience

OÖM Ethikwear’s Pascal Benaksas-Couture
and Pascale Clauzier want you to think
about what you wear

CUTTING THE ETHICAL CLOTH:
Clauzier and Benaksas-Couture

by MICHAEL-OLIVER HARDING

The name conjures up the most elemental Buddhist mantra, ‘‘aum.’’ Quite fitting for an urban clothing line that invites consumers to ponder over their individual purchasing power. For co-founders Pascale Clauzier and Pascal Benaksas-Couture, OÖM Ethikwear allows people to marry sartorial decisions with social values—and to recognize other like-minded ethical fashionistas on the street thanks to the company’s signature red button, sewn onto all apparel.

Both felt compelled to launch their altruistic garment-making venture after toiling away for companies driven solely by bottom-line considerations. Benaksas-Couture spent two years at Merrill Lynch after graduating from HEC, where he developed a serious case of stock market disenchantment. “In the financial world, everyone steps over each other to achieve their goals, and I was looking for more human values,” he says. “Why should I invest my time to make these millionaires even more extravagantly rich?”

Upon returning from a life-affirming six-month hiatus doing humanitarian work in Costa Rica, Benaksas-Couture met his future partner in crime at a Plateau blowout, where he was immediately struck by their matching names and matching aspirations to launch a stylish street-wear line made from organic cotton and bearing positive political messages.

Clauzier, who gave up on nylon, spandex and the swimwear industry as a whole upon being confronted with the fashion milieu’s nefarious effects on teens, is quite thrilled that OÖM donates two per cent of its sales to youth organizations like Dans la rue, Équiterre and Club des Petits Déjeuners du Québec.

When they first set OÖM in motion four years back, the founders only had one t-shirt model to sell out of their apartments. They’ve now considerably beefed up their offerings, with three full-blown clothing lines: OÖM Ethikwear—a complete collection boasting balloon skirts, polo dresses and sleeveless hoodies; Rêv-evolution, a wholesale line of tees and bags used by companies for promotional material; and Bébé OÖM, a line for toddlers made with leftover fabric scraps. 2009 will see these local do-gooders gun for the rest of Canada as they introduce new materials like hemp and polar fleece to their collections.

As Benaksas-Couture knows firsthand, Canadians of all stripes will endorse OÖM and its universal message if they catch sight of it, the way Quebec teens have been upon spotting OÖM designs worn by MusiquePlus VJs on air.

“I’m glad youth today are conscientious and want to wear our clothes instead of buying Nike, which is probably manufactured in China and assembled by kids. They know they’re purchasing garments made locally through rehabilitation organizations and with organic cotton. For us, that is a huge victory.” oom.ca