Who is Cynthia Savard?

Born and raised in Rimouski, only a few minutes away from the shore, Cynthia has always been concerned about the environment. Since her childhood, drawing and clothes have always been her passions and it is at the early age of 7 that she decided to become a fashion designer.

After traveling and living in England, she decided to move to Montreal to start studying fashion at Lasalle College. It is during that period of her life that she discovered her interest in the subject and started to learn about pollution, especially about individual packaging and plastic we use on a daily basis.

Years in the Fashion Industry

With over 12 years of experience working for big names in the fashion industry in
Montreal, she learned a lot about design, different materials and production processes.
It is during those years that she traveled around the world to meet with suppliers,
looked for new trends and created new fabrics. Through her work, she became interested in fabrics made of ecofriendly and recycled fibers. It is only when a supplier talked to her about a fabric made of recycled plastic bottles that something clicked. Then, she had only one thing in mind: to create her own eco-friendly clothing brand! During more than 3 years, she collected all the information she needed to start her project and began developing her products. It is at the birth of her son that she decided it was time to make the big jump. Known as a yoga fan, she decided to quit her job as a fashion designer to launch her own yoga and sport clothing brand made in Quebec with recycled plastic bottles.

Bringing an Idea to Life

Where to start? With the fabric, of course! During all those years in the fashion industry, she made a few contacts in the textile industry but unfortunately, none of them in Canada could provide her with the appropriate fabrics. She decided then to develop her own material collaborating with a textile manufacturing factory. She knew exactly what she wanted; a fabric made of a plastic wire mainly produced with recycled bottles. At that moment she had a precise idea of the perfect fabric she wanted to create and it took up to 8 months to make it happen. She never gave up and together, they created the perfect fabric she dreamed about for so long.

Since January 2017, Cynthia puts every ounce and fiber of her being into her project. Through ORAKI, she wants more than anything else to educate people about the pollution caused by one-time use plastic. She desires to create a high-quality product as good as the one from the big brands … but ecofriendly from A to Z!