AD.nl: The Hague's Giselle is trying to conquer the market with handmade clothing: 'I thought I would do it myself'

Written by: Ilah Rubio©
Her dream of starting her own sustainable clothing line seemed to shatter a few months ago due to the coronavirus crisis. But Giselle van der Star persevered and recently opened her studio in The Hague. In the meantime, she has produced several clothing items and orders are slowly coming in. "I thought: this must be able to be cheaper?"
Van der Star, dressed in a white cotton vest of her own making, beams as she opens the doors of her company. "This is my first interview," she says modestly. Her Atelier Jungles, located in the Binckhorst industrial area, has only been open for a few months.
Actually, the intention was to open in March, but then corona came. "That was very bitter," she remembers. She had just found a location for her atelier and hired staff. "No one knew where they stood. That was very annoying. We were then inactive for several months." Not a great start for a young entrepreneur. Van der Star decided to use those months to practice and create different patterns. When her atelier was finally allowed to reopen in June, she immediately got to work. Because her employees already had experience in this field, she was able to produce various clothing items quite quickly. And now customers can choose from four items. That number will be rapidly expanded in the coming months.
All the clothing that the young company produces is made from sustainable fabrics. "I myself am also increasingly buying more consciously. But I quickly noticed that sustainable clothes are very expensive. So I thought: that should be cheaper, right?" Just like many other clothing producers, Van der Star first explored the possibility of producing her clothing abroad. After all, labor costs are much lower there. But she soon realized that this didn't quite align with her ideas about sustainability. "You never find out what happens behind closed doors there. So I thought I have to do it myself."
But that's easier said than done. "The labor costs in the Netherlands are very high, and rightly so. But that's quite tough as a starting entrepreneur." Van der Star eventually ended up at Den Haag Werkt, an agency from the municipality that helps people with a distance to the labor market find work. All her employees, who previously had a benefit, now work with a lot of enthusiasm and passion in the atelier. "When they have produced something beautiful, they always come to show it off enthusiastically. They are so proud of themselves! After we opened in June, we started trying things out together and made samples. We laughed a lot at the beginning, but in the end, beautiful products came out of it."
Proudly, Van der Star shows a stack of t-shirts, trousers, and a kimono blouse. "We now have four items in a number of colors to choose from. All made from sustainable fabrics. And that's quite difficult. Because it's very hard to find fabrics that are not chemically dyed."
Because she just started, she doesn't have all the clothing items in large quantities in stock. "That's why we have now started a pre-order campaign. You order your item and as soon as it's ready, we will ship it. The goal is to do that within two weeks. The customer gets a discount because he or she has to wait a little longer." By the way, the clothing from Atelier Jungles is not very cheap. The prices for the current collection range between 60 and 90 euros. "But then you do have a local, handmade sustainable Hague item," she says with a laugh.