Third Date Lingerie
April 8, 2022/ Photo: Courtesy of Third Date Lingerie
After becoming a mother, Abigail Mattaro began to get in touch with her new body — and wanted to purchase some pretty lingerie as part of that journey. But after seeing a poignant National Geographic picture of a mother and her children living in contaminated conditions, she knew should couldn’t contribute to a fashion cycle that would further harm the environment.
“My heart broke thinking about a mother having to raise her child in those conditions...realizing that my child would be growing up in a world more and more impacted by those conditions,” she explained.
Mattaro began making her own lingerie out of previously-worn pieces, but felt using material from still-wearable clothing wasn’t how she wanted to build her brand. So she started researching and found the perfect resource for making cute knickers without creating waste — deadstock fabric, or the leftover fabric from clothing production.
“Until about a year ago I thought ‘fabric waste’ was when people bought fast fashion, wore it once and threw it away,” she said. “I had no idea that more than 20% of manufacturer fabrics never get used. We invest all the environmental impact to make them but these fabrics often end up in landfills.”
With the help of FabScrap’s incredible assortment of salvaged/deadstock fabrics, Mattaro mastered her production model for Third Date Lingerie and is making sexy, inclusive lingerie without harming the world around her.
Crafted in Brooklyn, the lingerie pieces range from cute and colorful, to lacy and seductively see-through. With inclusive sizing and an empowering ethos, the bras, panties, and sets are meant to inspire individuals to admire their bodies — while also creating larger conversation around clothing production, the function of fashion, and how we’re influencing our environment.
To design the pieces, Mattaro uses 100% reclaimed fabric lace and trims and considers what will look pretty, but will also result in as little fabric scraps as possible. To further increase her positive environmental impact, she also donates 20% of the pieces’ monthly profits to different clean water initiatives, like Dig Deep's Navajo Water Project and the Bronx River Alliance.
As the brand grows, she is working on expanding the sizing options to include to include XXS-4XL. She also recently participated in ReFashion Week 2022 and is continuing to create a dialogue about the environment by way of some seriously cute knickers.
“Third Date Lingerie is produced without cost to the planet and actually has a positive impact on the environment because it keeps existing, brand new fabric in use and out of landfills,” she said. “That feels sexy to me.”
More about Third Date Lingerie can be found here.
