Cristina
Canut Pujol

Graduated in fashion design, I have participated in all “prêt- á-porter” fashion production processes in a family company. I have collaborated with  fashion organisations and artistic associations like Liceo de Barcelona. However, the beginning of globalisation and externalisation of manufacturing processes, the change in the textile scene, made me quit the fashion world since the new challenges required more economic and administrative than practical knowledge.

However, all changes entail new opportunities. And there were a lot: enjoy maternity without constrains; live in contact with nature or discover new abilities (like being a manager of a historic building dedicated to Cultural Tourism). Thanks to that, I graduated in Management and Finance and acquired professional experience in both public and private sector. And it is thanks to this trajectory that joins creativity, respect for the environment and resource management that I feel fully prepared to undertake this adventure.

The climate change is a terrible fact and at the same time a desperate scream for the human kind to recover its common sense, which means the sense of what is common. And what’s common is almost everything. Therefore, I’m convinced that is fundamental to star thinking, feeling and working from this place: the place where common also means mine. That is the great change: to feel that you own what belongs to all of us.

PROJECT

Abril creates clothing in line with the philosophy of “slow fashion”. I found that this allows to unite the taking care of the personal -fashion- with taking care of the common -slow-. Because from my point of view an item of clothing cannot be beautiful without being respectful to who wears it, who manufactures is and to the environment that makes it possible (natural environment but also cultural).

Abril is fashion:

• Timeless: reduces textile waste and consumes less raw materials.
• Proximity: reduces emission and promotes local industry.
• Natural fabrics: reduces contamination and microplastics in our seas.

But Abril also organises sewing workshops that:

• Further the creativity and self-expression through the auto-design fashion. 
• Make  new clothing items from the ones we don’t use anymore.
• Raise awareness about sustainable consumption.
   

Abril “Vestimos la Aventura de ser tu” (We dress the adventure of being yourself) was born out of an impulse to create my own professional reality, of asking what my passion is, what values I have and how I can contribute best.  I recovered my career as a fashion designer and aim to use it as a tool to contribute to a paradigm shift that the planet requires and which is particularly clear in the textile environment.

MOTIVATION FOR AND COMMITMENT TO CREATING A BETTER AND MORE SUSTAINABLE PLANET

The Nature requires the modern textile industry not to conform by making it less bad, but to make one more step, design a transition strategy that helps to prepare the necessary change that leads to a healthy growth. I think that climate change and the common good are very important things and are not to be left in the hands of politicians.