September 3, 2019
Through alliances with Parsons School of Design and the Fashion Institute of Technology, the European company is trying to raise its profile and support young talent.
By Rosemary Feitelberg

Chargeurs has helped with the backdrops at the Museum at FIT’s upcoming show.
Eileen Costa

Chargeurs is tightening its ties to the New York fashion scene through new alliances.

For the kickoff of its partnership with The New School’s Parsons School of Design during New York Fashion Week, Chargeurs will showcase the school’s 2019 MFA Fashion and Design Society’s work in its new Future of Fashion gallery in the Chelsea Arts Tower. Their final collections will be exhibited in the downtown space from Thursday through Sept. 11.

Angela Chan, managing director and president of Chargeurs PCC Fashion Technologies, said there will be future events in New York and also via Parsons’ Paris campus. Discussions are under way for a long-term partnership, she said. “It’s a fantastic opportunity to help the school to exhibit their designers’ work and to promote them. Given the reason why we launched this gallery, it totally makes sense with the graduates of Parsons being the future of designers.”

As another indicator of its commitment to domestic fashion, education and culture, Chargeurs has partnered with the Fashion Institute of Technology. The company is one of the main sponsors for the Museum at FIT’s fall exhibit, “Paris, Capital of Fashion,” which bows Friday. Chargeurs Creative Collection, a specialist in museum experiences, is providing wallpaper, lightboxes, wall vinyls and other backdrops for the exhibit. Chargeurs arranged for the Chateau de Versailles to lend photographs of the Hall of Mirrors to the museum for the show, which will be on view through Jan. 4. Chargeurs Creative Collection is part of the Chargeurs Technical Substrates division.

In addition, Chargeurs, through its Chargeurs PCC Fashion Technologies division, is sponsoring a wedding gown design competition for students this fall that calls for sustainable interlinings. After judges weigh in in January, three winners will be given cash prizes and the first-place winner will have the option of a six-month internship.

On another frontier, the company will be playing up its Sustainable 50 — a complete collection of interlinings. These technical components that give garments shape and structure are being made with eco-responsible materials, including BCI cotton, hemp, recycled polyester textiles, recycled plastics and Bemberg. Sustainable 50 products will be showcased at Première Vision in Paris later his month. There will also be a Sept. 24 launch event with 800-plus international guests — all of whom are customers at Shanghai’s W hotel. Referring to the inner components, Chan said, “It’s not just interlinings but shoulder pads, knee pads. It really helps our customers to create not only a truly complete garment using sustainable materials but also inner components as well.”