Botter’s sustainability at scale: Caribbean couture made with algae and ocean plastic

To receive the Vogue Business newsletter, sign up here.

At Botter’s Spring/Summer 2023 show in Paris yesterday, guests were given a wobbly edible water capsule created using an algae membrane made by startup Notpla. Models then walked with water-filled condoms over their hands and bouncing from under their sleeves. Both represented the designer brand’s broader focus: the collection featured garments produced from algae fibres, ocean plastic and kelp.

Botter founders Rushemy Botter and Lisi Herrebrugh have turned their full attention back to their Amsterdam-based label, which they founded in 2017, after leaving their creative director positions at Nina Ricci in January. This season marks Botter’s second show since and its sixth in Paris, with an emphasis on ocean conservation in both the theme and the materials chosen to create the looks. The couture label’s founders, both born in the Caribbean, take the issue to heart.

“We really want people attending the show to experience our way of thinking and how we see the world,” says Botter, speaking from the brand’s temporary Paris studio the day before the show.

Yesterday’s show was a defining moment of maturity for Botter, say the designers. Momentum is picking back up. The brand was selected as an LVMH Prize finalist in 2017 and won the Grand Prize at Hyères Festival in 2018. This May, it took home the Andam award, where the jury were impressed by the strength and elegance of Botter’s collection and the brand’s savoir-faire, based on its Caribbean heritage, says Andam founder Nathalie Dufour.

“It’s a big moment for us, in continuation of development of the brand, the Botter man and woman and the exploration of fabrics,” Herrebrugh says. “We had several years where we were doing two things at the same time. I think you could feel that in the growth of Botter, being very honest. But now, since January, we see things going so much faster.”

Botter and Herrebrugh are investing some of their Andam winnings into material innovation and direct-to-consumer operations, pushing ahead more quickly than they were before while also diverting profits from the label into the brand’s social impact project Botter Coral Nursery, helping to restore the coral reef in Curaçao. Now, the brand is keen to increase its 40-store stockist network gradually and boost profits, in order to fund further use of expensive but innovative natural fibres from algae and kelp, and boost its social impact activities in the Caribbean.

Set up during the pandemic, Botter works with Curaçao’s local government and local dive company Curious 2 Dive to run the Botter Coral Nursery, where portions of the coral reef bleached by ocean pollution and global warming are cultivated back to health. This unique project chimes with a new wave of brands embedding social impact into their businesses, from Dover Street Market offshoot Sky High Farm to London brand Bethany Williams.

Dufour recognises the challenges that lie ahead for the label, which she says currently has a small turnover but potential to triple sales and develop a strong position in the international market. As part of the Andam win, Chanel CEO Bruno Pavlovsky is now Botter’s business mentor; and the duo have access to Chanel’s metiers d’art maisons such as embroiderers Lésage, in order to develop their collections; as well as receiving mentorship from other companies such as Google and Mytheresa.

Researching and developing more sustainable fabric

In recent years, Botter and Herrebrugh have collaborated with non-profit environmental organisation Parlay for the Oceans to use ocean plastics in their collections, a method employed by many swimwear brands aiming to be sustainable. While the goal is to reduce ocean plastics in the sea and on shores, they can’t be subsequently recycled, and will shed microplastics throughout their life cycle.

Now, Botter is “giving more space” to natural fibres, made from algae or kelp fibres that can be mixed with other natural textiles including wool. “Every season it’s becoming less superficial. We are going more in depth. The research is getting deeper. We are also growing into that and what we have done for this collection is less surface,” Herrebrugh says.

Botter collaborated with Adidas on sneakers earlier this year, partly using ocean plastic. The duo also seeks out organisations outside of fashion to help improve their practices, from startups such as Notpla, to universities. The brand already works with Dutch university Delft University of Technology to complete design projects with students who are able to think outside of fashion’s infrastructure. They align better with Botter and Herrebrugh’s point of view than “fashion people” who are set in the rapid rhythm of the fashion calendar and focused on growth over impact or creativity.

At this point in their careers, Botter’s founders have found it difficult in some ways to align their values with the way the fashion industry works. Speed is good, until it dictates creative decisions.

“The moment you step into fashion you have the anxiety of being irrelevant,” Herrebrugh says. “As a young designer, there’s so much expected of you. You have to present at fashion week every six months. If you're not there, you lose your spot, you lose money. If you're gone for a season, people forget you. I would love to see that change with the next generation.”

Herrebrugh believes that the next generation demands something more from the brands they buy from. If you’re starting a brand today, she says, you need to have a clear message. “Young people want to see and wear real stuff. They want to see be part of a real story. The consumer, especially the youth, is not buying into bullshit.”

That outlook has influenced the way Botter chooses partners. While keen to expand its global stockist network this season, Botter and Herrebrugh are keen to work with retailers in it for the long-term, and not just one season. “We’re very picky on [stockists] now,” Botter says. “We ask ourselves who are we actually partnering up with? What are their values?”

Printemps began stocking Botter in Autumn/Winter 2021, says Karen Vernet, the store’s chief merchandising officer, who likes the label’s bright tailoring and comfortable silhouettes. “Botter draws inspiration from the Caribbean and its unique culture, which we feel is something very fresh in the fashion world and that hasn’t been done so much,” she says. “And they are also very concerned about the environment, and it’s not only greenwashing. All of this makes Botter quite unique.”

Responsible growth, to build out social impact

Being selective with stockists also helps Botter steady its growth. “We don't want to grow really fast. It’s also not our mindset. We want to be stable first and then grow naturally. For us, it’s not just about numbers. It sounds naive, but we see it also as a platform, as an organisation almost.”

As profits climb, so will investment in Botter Coral Nursery. Initially, the duo only invested profits from the garments made with ocean plastics. Now, they’re also investing other company profits. “We are talking a lot with governments and locals and organisations that we can partner up with. We have beautiful ideas. We want to bring it further than only being a coral nursery.”

While reliant on wholesale, it can also be challenging to communicate the brand’s goals and processes to consumers. Some stores are “not on the same page” when it comes to telling the consumer about fabrics and provenance, Herrebrugh says. “We are working with fabrics that are quite expensive. And that’s reflected in the retail price. So, it’s a challenge to make sure people know what they’re buying and know the value of the product.”

In response, the duo are working to build out their currently small DTC operation, so that they have more control on the product information and customers can better understand what they’re buying. They also met with Sébastien Missoffe, VP of Google France, and his team, as part of the Andam win, to discuss how to better communicate their products and community work digitally, which they aim to set in motion in the coming year.

“We would love to see Botter as more than a fashion house. It should be more like a platform, a form of new collaboration with nature, with bioengineers, with people who can really help us to make the next step in fashion and reduce its impact, Botter says.

Herrebrugh is bullish on continuing the brand’s approach to sustainable development, genderless collections and steady growth: “Building a brand in this way, genderless, aiming to be sustainable, it can be a challenge. But, on the other hand, you can also think, fuck it, you know, we're doing it our own way. You follow, or you don't, you buy or you don't — this is our mindset.”

Comments, questions or feedback? Email us at feedback@voguebusiness.com.

More from this author:

How Trussardi plans to ‘shake off the dust’

Growing pains: How Chopova Lowena coped and thrived

Why these Gen Z fashion critics are ripping up the rulebook