The protagonist of our interview today is Domizia Vanni, founder and designer of the very young 100% made in Italy and eco-conscious label, Chimera Sleepwear. Between questions and answers, we tell the story of this Tuscan brand that finds its raw material, its white sheet for a new and contemporary sleepwear in the waste and abandoned fabrics. At the center of the project, attention to the environment, to people, to the territory but also to love for ourselves, our body and our mind.
Chimera Sleepwear, a new conscious sleepwear brand that dresses women, all women: different shapes and intimacies, different personalities and emotions. When did you become aware of wanting to create a brand? When and how was Chimera Sleepwear born?
“Chimera Sleepwear was born during the first wave of the pandemic: staying at home every day led me to search for comfortable clothing to wear, reviewing everything I owned as homewear and sleepwear. My own need, my own need led me to explore this specific market, where I noticed an important gap between the range of luxury products and those made by fast fashion. Following research and market studies, I decided to launch a brand dedicated to sleepwear that would position itself as a premium alternative. Chimera Sleepwear is therefore born from the desire to offer a product designed for women who are attentive to style, comfort and quality: an eco-conscious label, which is based on respect for the environment and people. The Chimera Sleepwear collections are made to last over time by pursuing a design and circular concept."
Is there a moment, a memory, that you particularly love "in the life" of Chimera Sleepwear?
“Absolutely yes! Indeed, I would say more than one! Surely, the first that comes to my mind is when I saw my very first champion made: Polly. Another vivid and exciting memory... when I saw the Chimera Sleepwear website for the first time: I felt a great joy, a great satisfaction in seeing what I had managed with perseverance and a lot of work to do. And then the most recent of Chimera Sleepwear's heart moments was being selected as an under generation brand by Marie Clare”.
Unused fabrics, company inventories, leftovers due to constant overproduction become real treasures for the label and its exclusive collections. Where does the stimulus come from, the intuition to found an eco-conscious label?
“Your trash could be someone else's treasure. I thought of this motto to create my collections and dress women in their intimacy. The desire to create an eco-conscious label is a stimulus I got from my own territory of origin, Prato. The Prato textile district is historically renowned, here there is a lot, a lot of raw material. Already in the 60s and 70s in Prato there was the idea of recycling, just think of the typical carded from Prato: a fabric obtained from the recovery of production waste and unused clothing, then again yarns and fabrics. It is my own DNA, my own identity, in addition to my great love for vintage and second-hand, that has led me to explore and create a conscious fashion, giving a second chance to abandoned fabrics and leftovers from corporate inventories, avoiding yet another virgin production. I often find precious, unique, archive fabrics that make my new garment even more unique."
Your collections go beyond passing trends by preferring an iconic and timeless aesthetic: what can never be missing from your creations?
“When I design my collections I always think about who will wear them, imagining a very busy woman who juggles the many daily activities of contemporary life. So surely you can't miss the comfort linked to the wearability but also the comfort linked to the maintenance of the garment, to the functionality of this: passe-partout garments, iconic must-haves made with fabrics that are easy to wash and iron. What is never lacking in my collections is then the duality, the possibility offered to every woman to choose according to the occasion and her will between long set and short set: always in every collection, without any restrictions given by time, by the trend or from seasonality in favor of timeless fashion and aesthetics."
And instead in every woman's wardrobe, what can't be missing?
“Surely one of the items I love for its style, comfort and great versatility is one of the most iconic sleepwear items: a nice pair of wide leg pants. Garment symbolic of the comfort zone, a must that knows how to mix and balance elegance and functionality."
How much of your personal style is there in the brand? How much of your style is there in Chimera Sleepwear?
"A lot, in Chimera Sleepwear there is a lot of me and my style. Like my collections, I too am alive with contrasts: I love minimal lines and masculine silhouettes, iconic, clean, tailored but I love filling them with color, with eccentric textures, with strong palettes. A duality, a typical feature of both my personal style and the Chimera Sleepwear collections ”.
Sleepwear is more than a garment, it's like saying… a second skin. Creating collections that include and make many, many women feel good was not a simple mission at all. What does it mean for you to be comfortable with your body?
“Being comfortable with your body for me is listening to it, taking care of it, the constancy of taking care of it. Of course, it is not always easy, some days we like us more others less but feeling, being confident is an attitude, it means knowing that you are doing everything to listen to yourself, feel your needs and value yourself. "
More and more often, sleepwear is mixed with looks as an item of clothing: which Chimera Sleepwear piece would you choose and how would you suggest wearing it?
"A garment to wear every day with your clothing... Well yes, it is definitely a new entry, or a garment from the next collection: a long version boxer, with a hipster mood, in an extra soft fabric, which I would suggest wearing in addition with a layering look with white tank top, masculine cut shirt, pullover or cardigan and a nice shoulder bag. "
About the new collection… We are curious! Can you tell us something?
"I'm just telling you... 90s! This will be the mood and style of the new collection!"
The interview is over but we continue to talk, to discuss. And finally, among the unwritten questions that still emerge, there is one on which we pause or rather stop: what, among many things, is most urgently missing in a young made in Italy brand. “Certainly tools, tools able to make new designers interact and collaborate with the big fashion companies, from the creative phase to the one more linked to the business. The exchange and interaction could be functional and important to ensure that even the smallest brands can enter, juggle and over time consolidate in the market world, managing to emerge and make themselves known." Thanks to Domizia and her eco-conscious Chimera Sleepwear label for this exclusive interview: discover now the creations of the brand.
