Who we are

SISSEL EDELBO is born out of the friendship between childhood friends Jeanne Sissel Thomsen and Christina Edelbo in 2004 with the vision of creating a fashion brand based on pure values.

Behind SISSEL EDELBO today stands Jeanne Sissel Thomsen and Chris Elmengaard, whose work have targeted the combination of sustainable materials, dressy silhouettes, and a trendy bohemian lifestyle since 2004. A vision of making a fashion brand built on clean, sustainable values combined with a preference for feminine and colourful prints and sustainable textiles. In large part due to a responsible approach to every part of the chain of values – from production to the people involved, collections designed from vintage material, made to last season after season, as well as a preference for good craftsmanship – SISSEL EDELBO has become synonymous with responsible fashion. 

The core at the heart of SISSEL EDELBO is the upcycling of beautiful vintage materials. With every season and collection SISSEL EDELBO continues to refine and reinvent its own language, and explore new designs made from everything between recycled hand-embroidered blankets and vintage saris, worn for generations by Indian women. These colourful and recycled materials are carefully chosen before they are subsequently redesigned into modern styled pieces – each with their own unique history, and with a clear touch of Indian culture woven into a mix for a modern aesthetic silhouette. 
At SISSEL EDELBO, we create fashion for women wanting a colourful and unique wardrobe, while also wishing to shop with the environment and Mother Earth in mind. 

SISSEL EDELBO is committed to finding the most beautiful vintage materials and pieces in India, and refashion them into dream-worthy styles, able to last season after season, while valuing sustainable solutions and quality above profit and demand. It is with honour that we bring new life to vintage materials, and we do our utmost during our selection process to obtain de finest vintage textiles, carefully found and chosen by our founder Jeanne Sissel.

Our story

To us, a sustainable and responsible behaviour is choosing to do our best every step of the way with great care towards each other and our planet.

We bring new life to the often tradition-bound garments by upcycling vintage saris, while also making sure that their history stays alive – thusly, the story continues.

For generations Indian women have worn the iconic colourful and beautiful saris. Every individual sari tells the story of the Indian cultural heritage, fundamentally highlighting the women, who have traditionally worn these saris both for everyday use and as a celebratory garment. 

Circularity is a natural part of SISSEL EDELBO’s DNA, which we want to further, so that we as a brand and in union with you, as a woman and a global consumer, can safeguard our planets future – seeing as there is no Planet B. 
We source our recycled saris through local buyers, travelling from city to city, village to village, and from home to home, buying saris directly from women’s wardrobes. This way the women can turn their used saris into money or exchange them for household equipment. At SISSEL EDELBO we love contributing to women’s agency, where they can exchange their worn garments into something valuable to them, while also upcycling the materials into new styles with history.

You can read more about some of the focus areas in our work on responsibility and sustainability below.

Q and A

Where do you produce your garments?
We travel to India three to four times a year to maintain our strong and familiar relations to several of our business partners, suppliers, and factories, as well as to ensure our employees’ welfare. At SISSEL EDELBO, we have a strong sense of affiliation and therefore wish to take responsibility in ensuring a positive influence for all the people contributing to our chain of production. SISSEL EDELBO is based on the motto that everyone part of our chain of value must be treated with dignity and respect. 

What is a sari?
A sari is a traditional Indian garment, arranged and woven over and around the body. Saris come in a myriad of detailed prints and qualities. The sari is a symbol of femininity, elegance, and beauty. At SISSEL EDELBO, we wish to keep these three values in our designs for the next woman who will wear this garment.

What is upcycling?
Upcycling means working cyclically by using already existing materials to create new products of a higher value. At SISSEL EDELBO, we redesign and reuse Indian saris, thusly producing more environmentally friendly than conventional clothing production, since we do not spend resources on producing new materials. We take pride in creating something new from vintage materials.

What materials do SISSEL EDELBO use for their products?
In the inherent nature of creating products from recycled materials, - in our case, recycled saris – that a acquired in a used and already existing state, we are sadly unable to disclose the material composition of our products. We want to provide our customers with the highest quality of materials to secure longevity of the products we produce. At SISSEL EDELBO, every individual sari is carefully chosen to ensure that all our materials live up to our sense of style and quality requirements. 

Every collection includes some styles that are 100% silk, found in collaboration with our most exclusive suppliers who source 100% silk vintage saris. It will be apparent from both hang tags and care labels which styles are made from silk. The price of these styles will differ from our sari-collection, wherein the material composition cannot be defined.

Our Blanket Wear is created using hand-embroidered vintage blankets. We introduce you to traditional Indian needlework with great love for slow fashion – No machines, only human hand creations.

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