At a Glance
Location: Romania
Impact Areas: Sustainable Income, Circular Economy
People Supported:
Small Producers and Artisans
Joined NESsT Portfolio:
2021
Overview
ALTRNTV (previously known as “Atelier Merci”) produces handcrafted clothing made from sustainably-produced vegan and organic materials. The social enterprise is committed to circular economy practices, using textile scraps from clothing to create decorative house products and bags and offering recycling services to its clients for their used clothes.
In early 2022, ALTRNTV will launch a brick-and-mortar store with online channels to sell not only its own products but also handmade clothing, shoes, and belts created by small Romanian artisans from underserved communities. These Romanian producers share ALTRNTV’s sustainability goals and utilize eco-friendly production practices. Their products have high reuse potential and are made from certified organic raw materials.
In addition to helping marginalized Romanian craftspeople to promote their products, ALTRNTV also offers guidance on transitioning to sustainable packaging and improving their waste recycling processes.
Results & Impact
4,000+
free dental services for children provided in 2020
54
small artisans and tailors supported by 2024
5,500
hospital protective suits produced in 2020
“We donate 100% of the profit to the mobile dental clinics we have created 6 years ago - this goal motivates our team to scale our sustainable fashion business so we can provide free dental treatments to more and more children from rural areas.”
NESsT Investment
NESsT and IKEA Social Entrepreneurship’s investment will facilitate the opening of the ALTRNTV store, supporting ALTRNTV to hire employees and obtain quality certifications. With its technical assistance, NESsT and IKEA Social Entrepreneurship will help ALTRNTV to improve its production capacity to meet rising product demand and work with the social enterprise to measure and document its impact on the lives of underserved producers and artisans.
In the next few years, ALTRNTV plans to evolve into a sustainable fashion brand in Romania and expand its network of Romanian artisans, leveraging its platform to help more small producers to sell their products. All profits from the ALTRNTV shop are used to fund the Merci Charity Association, Atelier Merci’s parent organization that supports children with medical needs.