When I think of Italy, I think of sultry summer evenings, brewing espressi in a moka pot, strolling through places with amazing ancient architecture. I think of style and elegance. And when I think of Italian fashion, I think of Pistil, a slow fashion brand where elegance meets sustainability. Martina, the founder of Pistil, has been able to establish a high end sustainable fashion brand that is modern and timeless at the same time, without ever loosing the elegance we all know from Italy. If you appreciate a modern take on feminine style, this blog post is for you.

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Let me introduce you to Pistil!

What does Pistil stand for?

Pistil is a sustainable women’s clothing brand that produces fashion with valuable deadstock materials. Some of these materials are for example silk, wool and cotton – all natural, which makes them enjoyable to wear and they do not harm the environment when properly taken care of. This is because natural materials do not release microplastics whilst washing or wearing. Pistil works only with deadstock materials, because they want to promote a more conscious fashion approaching the concept of circular economy. There are so many beautiful high end materials laying around, that are waiting to be turned into amazing pieces. Pistil does exactly that by working with the deadstock materials.

All Pistil’s pieces are timeless and high quality. With this, you are able to wear it year after year, which ultimately makes fashion more sustainable. Pistil does not want to dictate a precise style. Instead, it wants to become part of your personal and daily choices. The collection is build up from flowy tops, comfortable dresses, and masculine skirts and feminine trousers and is therefore wearable by meany.

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How Pistil was founded

Pistil has been founded in 2021. It started from a personal desire of Martina to create pieces that are feminine, sustainable, comfortable and timeless all at the same time. It’s quite a challenge to find pieces that incorporate all four, without ever losing elegance. However, Martina was able to capture this for her brand.

In order to create these pieces which incorporate all four, an important value of Pistil is craftsmanship. Martina’s ideas and designs are put into practice by a pattern maker who had a family clothing business. The production is carried out by a small clothing company of about ten people at the foot of the Friulian mountains. Martina chooses to work with only local craftsmen for a reason. She sees that, even though the Friulian region is small and in the far north-east of Italy, it has numerous skills and an interesting know-how in the fashion sector. And by valuing this, Pistil is able to commit itself to being a 0 km brand. As all deadstock, the full production process and the photoshoots, come from and are held in one place.

Let’s dive a little deeper into sustainability

As said before, all materials are from a natural origin. Martina sources the fabrics locally. She starts her creative process searching for the right colours and textures. With all this information, she creates a moodboard with which she can go to the suppliers. Together they make a selection of several materials, that are matching the moodpboard and the production needs. It takes quite some time to choose all the perfect fabrics to create a consistent collection.

However, sustainability is even so much more than just materials. To Martina, it’s also about respecting people and the environment around us without wasting unnecessary resources. As Pistil is a 0km brand, no unnecessary resources are spilled on transportation or whatsoever. And because all pieces are locally made, Martina can guarantee that all pieces are made under fair circumstances.

Lastly, for packaging and accessories Martina did an in-depth research. So even the boxes come from a local supplier and are produced in FSC cardboard. And after shipping you can reuse them as handy containers. Then the tags are in bamboo paper. All clothing labels come from certified organic cotton, again, all supplied by a local organisation, that is very active in sustainable materials and design. 

You can see, ethical fashion is the core of Pistil.

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Martina’s tip to consume more ethically

Martina’s biggest advice to engage in slow fashion yourself, is to start thinking thoroughly before you make a purchase. For example, Martina herself started to create a long wishlist that she consults every time she feels the need to go shopping. By doing so, she aks herself whether she really needs all those things or not. Besides that, she only buys a garment when she has been thinking about it for a month or two. By slowing down your decision process, you’re already engaging in a slower way of consumption. Martina elaborates: “I am so happy to have discovered this method. Using it, I buy a lot less than before and I feel good to not be obsessed with objects.”

How to style Pistil

In case you want to invest in this lovely slow fashion brand too, I can imagine you’d like to see some style inspiration.

Personally, I like to style the blue dress several different ways, so it stays fun wearing it. In winter, which is now, I often layer it with sweaters or jackets. I’ve even styled it layered over jeans and with a big chunky knit on top (see the video below).

But as I can also appreciate a monochrome look, I combined it here with my blue sweater. I prefer wearing this dress with tall boots. To me, it looks super sexy and it’s also comfortable for colder days. Pistil shows that fashion can be sustainable, sexy and comfortable all at the same time.

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For the silk top, which is absolutely stunning, I like to pair it with jeans for a daily office look. The shoulder details and the fluid fabric make this top very special one. It drapes beautifully around your body and is therefore also very good to style with skirts or under dresses for a more festive look.

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Shop Pistil here.