About the project
About A Worker is a collaborative fashion project founded by Kim Hou and Paul Boulenger in 2017. It challenges the traditional hierarchies of the fashion industry by giving factory workers the chance to become designers and storytellers. Through a process of “design initiation,” workers are invited to create collections that reflect their personal experiences, skills, and visions of the industry—transforming their role from anonymous labourers to recognised creative voices.
The project has worked with factory workers in France, couture workshops in Italy, and former sweatshop workers in China, as well as developing upcycling workshops in cultural institutions worldwide. These initiatives allow both professionals and amateurs to experiment with design, while also highlighting local and traditional crafts.
For many participants, it is the first time they have been invited, valued, and paid to share their creativity. Design becomes not only a tool for personal and professional growth but also a form of therapy and empowerment. One early participant, Misbahou Yisouf, transformed his French blue overall into a couture piece that traced his journey from soldier in the Comoro Islands to workshop manager in France.
In 2022, with support from the French Ministry of Culture’s Mondes Nouveaux programme, About A Worker launched The Creative Factory Shop in Roubaix—a cooperative fashion workshop where visitors design and make their own clothes with upcycled materials, learning directly from regional professionals. Rather than selling finished garments, the shop distributes experiences, skills, and stories, while promoting sustainability and reducing industrial waste.
As a growing worldwide collective, About A Worker sees design as a universal language that can connect workers, consumers, and fashion elites in transparent dialogue. Its mission is to build more ethical and sustainable systems, expand collaborations with workers globally—especially in regions facing pressing social and ecological challenges—and inspire a fashion future that is inclusive, responsible, and just.
