Café couture: Sip as you sew

Paris – Sewing is a piece of cake, according to the founders of the recently opened Sweat Shop café in Paris.

Visitors can enjoy coffee and cakes while lining their favourite old coat, fixing a zip or transforming a dress on one of the 10 sewing machines donated to the project by a sewing company. The machines are rented in the same way that cybercafés rent out computer time.

The Sweat Shop café was launched by Sissi Holleis, an Austrian fashion designer and Martena Duss, a Swiss makeup artist. Holleis and Duss felt that their friends had a growing interest in DIY and also wanted their clothes to last longer during the economic crisis.

‘I get the feeling that people in Paris really want to take up sewing again,’ says Duss.

The café also offers workshops led by designers and supplies all the necessary tools, swatches and yarn.

A growing number of shops are finding innovative and collaborative ways to involve consumers; read more in our Retail Report.