Interview Series: Social Fabric

Social Fabric, just two years old, is a social enterprise based in Zurich, Switzerland working with refugees to create beautiful hand-made textile products. We sat down with the founder, Heather to talk about where the idea came from.

GROW FOR GOOD: Where did the idea of social fabric come from?

SOCIAL FABRIC: It is still an evolving idea, but I have a background in research, and when I was working at the university (ETH Zürich) I realised that what I was doing was never concrete, my impact was never tangible. As I started actively looking for a venture with more impact, I was considering my background in food and agriculture and that eventually led me to textiles (as textiles are plant based) and this helped me arrive at the idea of Social Fabric.

How did you get started? What were the first steps you took? (Actually the answer is the other way around)

At first I didn’t know how to get started, and after trying several different things, I met a tailor and we started to offer courses together on the topics of sewing and clothing construction. As the idea evolved, I started talking to my flatmate (a psychotherapist who was working with refugees), and then I knew I wanted refugees to be incorporated into the venture.

Why was impact important and how do you measure that?

Having some kind of impact has always been important to me since I was young, and I stopped working in science because I couldn’t see the impact. At the beginning of this project we tried to define the needs of the participants, by conducting a workshop with the participants themselves, and re-defining the participant needs has been an ongoing process as the project has evolved. I had never met a refugee before starting Social Fabric and we didn’t know how to best create meaningful programs.

What is the role of the refugees?

We have three people from a refugee background who are participating in our work integration project, and they have really become part of our team. One person, Cisse, has been hired as a regular employee, and two others are participating in a work placement through the city. Two are tailors who have a background and training in garment construction. The third participant doesn’t have a lot of experience in sewing, and we are trying this out to see how it goes.

We hired Cisse by launching a crowdfunding campaign to pre-sell products that would be made by him. Hiring him was relatively easy, after we understood the administrative process.

We have one refugee and they are making designs and sewing shirts and other textiles. They both have backgrounds in textile and worked in textiles in their own countries, but we hope that this is the start of something else, and they are able to go on and find other employment as well. Hiring them was relatively easy, once we knew the process. We actually hired Cecil (one of the refugees) full-time after a successful crowd-funding campaign.

Do you have open classes as well?

We also have a class every Thursday morning. It’s free for for people from a refugee background, and they come to spend time at Social Fabric to learn how to sew their own clothes. The class is about creating an intercultural community of paying customers, volunteers, and people from a refugee background.

How are you sustaining yourselves?

We have some products that we sell, and already have some retails partners, though we are looking for more. We do receive some grants, but we want to be self-sustaining, so that we have some stability and are able to give security to our employees.

Do you have a support network?

People seem to really like Social Fabric and the idea, and the response has been extremely positive. It is a bit weird to have an integration project that is run by a foreigner, (Heather is originally from Canada and has been in Switzerland for 5 years), but we are building credibility over time, as people start to see that we are achieving results.

Where are you going next?

We are looking to prove the concept, make sure it works, and then scale outside of Switzerland. We are already building a network of international partners of social enterprises who are also working with textiles.

The interview has been edited for length and clarity.