How
FAM became FAM
A story about the birth of a Belgian sustainable fashion label
The Story
Before she created FAM, Vanessa Beniers was racing through life, like a lot of us, working a busy job with little creative satisfaction. Right after losing her mother and later also her job, she hit a metaphorical wall and crashed.
Loss is destructive but destruction always means opportunity, so Vanessa started digging for things that could give her life a renewed sense of meaning. She promised herself to never put another dream in a box, to unapologetically stand for what she believes in and to let love and passion guide her way. Turning her setbacks into wins ultimately guided her back to her childhood passion, her love for fine clothes.
Friendship and Collaboration
Life has a funny way of bringing the right people together at exactly the right moment. Around the same time Vanessa decided to enroll herself in several courses on patternmaking, fabrics and business she met Clarisse Rocha.
Clarisse was making a sustainable impact with her organic farming business in Portugal until the economic crisis hit. She felt forced to leave her home country and family to become a cleaner in Belgium and found a job working for Vanessa. As they both shared their stories about life and loss, they also shared their dreams and found common passions. A deep friendship was born and so was the drive to share their love for fashion and sustainability.
A few years later this friendship has grown into a strong collaboration. Clarisse was able to move back to Portugal and now manages FAM’s entire production process.