Haute Talk with Juliet Seger-Banks | Rethinking Fashion with Craft and Community

Every garment you own has passed through human hands, even when the label never acknowledges them.

This week on The Lexy Show, Lexy talks with Juliet Seger-Banks, co-founder and creative director of Human Touch, a Berlin-based fashion brand making the labor behind clothing impossible to overlook. Juliet is a trained tailor, clothing engineer, sustainability designer, and artist who developed the brand’s signature paint-sewing technique while studying sustainable design.

Juliet explains how she covers her hands with paint while sewing, leaving fingerprints across each garment as a visible record of the person who made it. She and Lexy discuss why the fashion industry remains dependent on human skill, the misconception that most clothing is produced entirely by machines, and how the word “handmade” can hide the reality that nearly every garment involves human labor.

They also talk about opening the Human Touch studio during Berlin Fashion Week, giving visitors a closer look at the machines, workspace, and process behind the finished collection. Juliet shares how the brand’s upcycling line applies paint-sewing to vintage and secondhand pieces, including an intentionally overpriced SHEIN cardigan designed to provoke a conversation about labor, value, and fast fashion. The conversation also explores why sustainability needs creativity, beauty, humor, and strong storytelling instead of relying only on guilt.

Listen to the full episode, subscribe to The Lexy Show, and follow Human Touch to see how fashion can celebrate the people whose hands bring every garment to life.

Social Media

Instagram: @thehumantouch_clothing
TikTok: @human.touch.clothing
Website: humantouchclothing.com

If you enjoyed this conversation, be sure to subscribe to The Lexy Show, leave a review, and share this episode with someone who's ready to make more mindful choices for themselves and the planet. For more information visit https://lexysilverstein.com/

Transcript

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LEX-Human Touch

[00:00:00] Welcome to the.

Welcome to the Lexie Show Fashion. That gives a damn. Where we expose fast fashion and celebrate the brands and products actually making a difference for our planet. I'm Lexi Silverstein, and today I am talking with Juliet Seeger, banks Founder of Human Touch, a Berlin based fashion brand that uses a unique paint sewing technique to make the human labor behind garment production visible and celebrated through its distinctive handcrafted pieces.

If you're new here, head to lexi silverstein.com for information on sustainable fashion, eco-conscious living, and if you love what you hear, subscribe and share this episode. It helps more than you think. Juliet, welcome. How are you doing? 

So the name Human Touch is very intentional. How did you land on it and what did you want to communicate from day one? 

Juliet: Right. So, um, the name actually came up, you know, rather than like strategically going for like what does, what could sound cool or what could sound like mm-hmm.

Appropriate. It just really came up in a [00:01:00] conversation when I was brainstorming about the project, um, and the idea of the paint sewing and just sort of like. Popped up to be like, yeah, it could, you know, just to show the human touch of garment manufacturing. And so at first it was more like a, a project title, just to have something to put on the name, uh, to put on the, on the work.

But then it sort of stuck and made itself. 

Lexy: Mm-hmm. 

Juliet: Um, yeah. And I think also because our human touch as a brand. Wasn't set out to be a brand from the beginning. 

Lexy: Oh 

Juliet: really? It was an experiment. Um, and so, yeah, it just gradually grew and the human touch as a title stuck with it over the years. 

Lexy: Well, tell us about that.

How has human touch evolved from this, you know, experiment to a brand? 

Juliet: I, um, well, I came up with the idea of paint sewing in 2020 when I was doing a master's degree in sustainable design. Um, but because I am a, a trained tailor and a clothing engineer. [00:02:00] I've always had like a focus of, um, uh, my, my, the focus for my projects were always on fashion and especially around, um, garment manufacturing.

Lexy: Mm-hmm. Um, and so at the time I was very curious about the stage of automation in the garment industry, and I was, again, being a trained tailor. I was curious like, what would does it mean if a robot. Um, would sew a whole garment, like how does it actually work in contrast to doing it with my hands. Um, and so I researched in that field and realized pretty quickly that even though you can automate part of the process, we're still super far away from actually automating the full process of government manufacturing.

Juliet: Mm-hmm. And to me, that was such a, like, even as a, you know. Trained professional. Basically, it was still like a wow moment. 

Lexy: Mm-hmm. 

Juliet: To really have to be confronted with those, you know, hard facts. Um, and so to visualize that I started, I, I [00:03:00] thought of this paint sewing technique where I cover my hands with paint to, um, print the fingerprints onto the garment during the.

The sewing process. And yeah, in the beginning it was, you know, really just sort of for my university in that environment. And then I started putting that on social media, on my personal Instagram account, and somehow people started reacting to it. And then people started asking me questions. And then I, um, had some exhibitions again, like in this sort of college, college context.

Lexy: Mm-hmm. 

Juliet: I realized that people were actually genuinely interested in this way of visualizing it. Um, yeah, so that's sort of where it started a few years ago. And then in 2023, I partnered with my, now with my friend and now business partner, Christina, to take this. Little project with like a couple of made to order pieces and turn it into an actual fashion brand, um, with collections and yeah.

Products you can buy and products you can [00:04:00] wear, especially 

Lexy: that is so incredible and so important. I, I often mention how I think there's a misconception out there that people think our clothes are made. Buy robots and 

Juliet: Yeah. 

Lexy: And then, then all, I mean, all of our clothes, whether it's like a fast fashion brand or a sustainable brand, I mean, there is a human element to this.

There are, there are garment workers who are, you know, basically the, the entire fashion industry is, is riding on these amazing garment workers and it's oftentimes those garment workers who. Unfortunately, our working in horrible conditions are not getting paid correctly and some, so many more unfortunate realities to the fashion industry.

Um, and so I think that it's, it's just so amazing and, and important to remind people, and this is such a great way of going about it. 

Juliet: Thank you. Yeah. I think, you know this, there's this term handmade. 

Lexy: Mm-hmm. 

Juliet: And I feel like there's a bit of a misconception around that because essentially next to every garment.[00:05:00] 

That we wear is handmade, um, some to a higher degree than others. And it's not so much that the tech technology behind it is different, it's the system behind it that's different. So, um, if something is handmade on your sewing machine at home, it's uses the same technology that the sewing machine in a garment manufacturer, like in a garment factory in Bangladesh uses.

And it's just that the scale of it is different. 

Lexy: Mm-hmm. Yeah, no, completely. That is, I mean, so much of, I feel like what's out there and everything is just like marketing and how we, how we, uh, label things. And it's, I mean, I remember like vegan when it was like vegan leather, like that was a very large term to use.

And then like. It, it was really greenwashing like 

Juliet: Yeah, 

Lexy: because vegan leather's just a lot of plastic and 

Juliet: Yeah. What's like polyurethane and that kinda stuff. 

Lexy: Yeah, 

Juliet: yeah, 

Lexy: yeah. And so it's, you know, we're going around saying it's handmade and um, and that's great, you know, if it is handmade and that's [00:06:00] whatever.

But like you said, a lot of these are handmade anyways in, in one aspect or another. So definitely a good shout out. Um, well, during Berlin Fashion Week, human Touch opened its studio to the public, inviting people inside to see the collection shop, um, and in studio sale and experience the paint sewing technique up close.

Why is it important for you to create that kind of intimate physical experience during such a high profile week? 

Juliet: Um. Well, because our brand is built on literally showing the manufacturing process. Mm-hmm. I think that's why we have a higher, um, emphasis on, um, not just showing the finished product that you would see, for example, on a runway show or in a showroom presentation, but also.

Showcasing the machines we use, the space we're in, like sort of the reality of how these things came to be. Um, [00:07:00] and I think for a while we were almost a little bit shy about, um, our work environment. You know, you sort of start with a fashion brand in this, um, world where there's like lots, lots of glitz and glossy and nice and chic and, um.

And, but if you, the reality is if you start a fashion brand, if you're a designer, you sometimes, you know, cut the stuff on your floor at home or mm-hmm. Um, like you have to sort of develop, you're not immediately in like a nice office space. Um, but now I think we've come to a point that we're actually like really proud of.

Um. Oh yeah. Of showing exactly where we work and engaging with people about why we made certain decisions, why, you know, actually talking to people about the structure of our business rather than sort of hiding it away. 

Lexy: Mm-hmm. 

Juliet: So, yeah, that was, um, that was one component of why we decided to do, do the studio visit this time.

And then the other component is sort of just. Like whenever you create a Fashion Week event for us, it always starts with the location and searching the location and [00:08:00] securing it and actually like paying for a location that you rent for some time. That's sort of, that's a lot of effort and can be lots of fun.

And, you know, curating a, a new space, um, in my case, because I just had a baby a few months ago, it was also sort of like, um. Let's come things down a little bit. Let's work with what we have. And, um, yeah, but it was a, it was really, really nice. It was an actually genuinely lovely day. 

Lexy: Oh, congratulations on your, thank 

Juliet: you.

Lexy: Wow. You are amazing. Brand owner Berlin Fashion Week mother. Ugh. Thank you. The, the woman, do I Right of us. Um, so what, what did you hope, you know, when, when opening your studio up during fashion week? Like, do you, do you think maybe it changed the way that people kind of understand the value of the work?

Juliet: Um.

Yeah, it's interesting because we had a different mix of people who came. We had some people who knew the band brand and who knew our work and already were like, yes, we, you know, fully get it and like are aligned or whatever. And for them it just was interesting to, to [00:09:00] see behind the scenes. And then we had other people who had never heard of us, who had just seen it on the fashion Week calendar and were like, you know, sounds kind of interesting.

Let's go see. And they got to know the, know the concept from the. From the beginning. Um, we've in the past also had like popups and sort of popup performances where we would do the paint sewing in different spaces that were not our studio. 

Lexy: Mm. Um, 

Juliet: and then, and also now you still sometimes have this, um, moment where you can see like the, the person, you know, the people they watch, the pain sewing happening.

Um, I mean, we look at some products and you can see sort of their brain working a little bit and at some point they sort of like light up a bit and go like, ah, okay. And that's, um, a nice experience. I think the people who came to our studio now, they are already to some degree, interested in this type of work, so they are not, you know.

Completely new and they don't have to be one over completely. Um, in the sense of like trying to [00:10:00] show them why, why this type of message might be relevant for their day-to-day mm-hmm. Consumption. Um, yeah. When you have sort of a walk in event like a showroom or something, then you get these people who really have no idea, they just walk in.

And then, um, I think the. Actual, the visit might have sort of even a bigger impact because then they go from sort of not thinking about it at all to like, yeah. Having a sort of aha moment. 

Lexy: Mm-hmm. Yeah. That's so amazing. Do you think that, um, like, I mean, I, I think the way that you're. Your pieces. I mean, they, they tell a story.

They tell a story of sustainability. They tell a story of making this, this garment. And so why do you think storytelling is so important when it comes to sustainability?

Juliet: Um, I,

well, I think storytelling is imp you could say, important in. I mean, that's sort of what fashion is built on, I would say. Because even if you don't have a clear narrative, you create sort of associations that create emotions. 

Lexy: Mm-hmm. 

Juliet: And [00:11:00] these emotions, like what, that's what actually sort of makes the people want to have the piece or be interested in the piece.

Um, and with sustainable products, historically, they have a bit of a hard time anyways. Um, because they might, yeah, because they are created under different circumstances to avoid maybe some unsustainable practices. And that way, sorry, I'm getting like a bunch of phase Id calls from like a random what is happening here?

Oh gosh. Um, so storytelling.

Sustainable products because they are made under different, um, production practices or design practices. They sometimes, um, have a bit more of a hard time reaching the customer because they might be, they can be a bit less exciting or they can be a bit, um, less like trend driven. And then the narrative.

Sort of balances what sometimes they lack in fashionability. I hope that's not the case for our items. I think actually our, you know, we try to sort of bring those two things together to have like, um, interesting design pieces that are, you know, striking even just from an aesthetic perspective, plus have them under sustainable, um, aspects.

But yeah, I think just generally in the sustainable product world, they sometimes have a bit of a hard, hard time. 

Lexy: Um, I took a look at your website. I wanted to visualize while I was speaking with you, but I see you have, um, a, a [00:12:00] sheen zip up that you, can you explain this? I love this. 

Juliet: Yes. So, um, we have two lines.

We have one, just our human touch line. That's where we cut and sew all the pieces. From the beginning to the end in our studio. Mm-hmm. And then we have a upcycling line for which we source vintage and secondhand pieces and then do the paint sewing on top of them. Mm-hmm. Um, sort of, we were like a decorative stitch.

And so whilst when we were sourcing the secondhand and vintage pieces, we came across this tiny, um, very sort of trendy little cardigan from sheen. And I dunno if one would have to explain to your audience what the issue is with she in. I would imagine they're sort of like prepped for that. Um, but also these, yeah, these, she in pieces.

They are also made by human beings. So the majority of these pieces also have these invisible fingerprints on them. And so we, um, yeah, took this sheen piece, did the paint sewing on top of it, and, um, fully [00:13:00] overpriced it. Um, I don't remember exactly how much it is, but it's like over 800 euro, um, which I'm not expecting anybody to, you know, really go ahead and, and buy that.

But, um, yeah, we were just sort of having a bit of a, a fun moment putting that on our website. 

Lexy: I am obsessed. I think that is so powerful. I have very personal beef with, um, Ian. They did a partnership with my college while I was there. Right. And my college, I had like literally learned about sustainable fashion by visiting my college.

And we like always had sustainability classes and were preached that we were like the. Future of the industry. And then they partnered with Sheen and I was like, oh heck no. Like, what are we doing? So I did a, um, petition against it that got a good amount of coverage at the time. And so Sheen and I, we, we beef and

Juliet: I mean, it's, yeah, I have that [00:14:00] experience quite often. Like that you, you know, on the one hand. Sustainability is, you know, supported and like, you know, championed by certain industry players. Mm-hmm. And then suddenly there's like this massive, um, h and m Times Square event where like a ton of people go to and a ton of like influential people go to.

Lexy: Mm-hmm. 

Juliet: And yeah, I don't. It just, it, I, yeah. It's difficult to not think. It's a bit hypo. What's it? Hypocritical. Hypocrisy. Hypocritical. Yeah. Hypocritical. That's what you say in English? Yeah. 

Lexy: Yes. Um, no, completely. I, I year in, during Coachella in California, the music festival, there's another festival called Revolve Fest.

Mm-hmm. Um, and. I honestly don't know terribly too much about Revolve, so I might be preaching about this and they're like, I don't think they're that sustainable of a company. They might have, like some, I feel like I would've known if they were sustainable because that's, yeah, I, I don't know when all, I don't know when a lot of these brands that I'm talking about are Right.

I, I'm assuming that most of the brands that you know are kind of out there for the most part are. Um, unsustainable. 'cause I feel like that's what we see more often than not. So I could be, again, I just dunno what I'm talking about, but they have what's called Vol Fest the same week of as Coachella. And like everyone, every influencer ever goes to this like festival at ev.

It's like, yeah. I'm like, oh, guys, like, no. Like, can we have a sustainable fest at the same time? Like, 

Juliet: yeah, it would be such an opportunity, 

Lexy: right? 

Juliet: Yeah. 

Lexy: If you're 

Juliet: channeling, you're already sort of channeling a bit of the hippie, um, you know, boho sheet, right? You might as well transfer that to Yeah. [00:15:00] A bit of more high quality content.

Lexy: Agreed. Agreed. Well, I think, um, there, I'm trying to figure out where I am. So sorry.

Where is it? Okay. Um, so after opening your studio and welcoming people in and sharing your process, what's one thing that you wish more fashion brands, speaking of, you know, revolve Fest, um, would do maybe differently in general or differently during fashion week? 

Juliet: Hmm.

Uh, it's, um, what's a bit tricky about that question is, is because the fashion weeks are so different and the type of brands are so different, and so for example, when you look at the brands that are on the Berlin. On the Berlin calendar, there are a lot of younger brands and only been around for a few years, that even just by nature of not having super large quantities and by nature of being super close to the creative process still 

Lexy: yeah.

Juliet: Are more sustainable. Even if they don't market that they still are more sustainable than I, you know, other sort of corporate sponsored. Large events that, which I [00:16:00] guess you also some part partly have in Berlin, but maybe more in other fashion weeks. Yeah. Um, as a consumer, I love seeing behind the scenes, and I love it when brands put out like.

Work in progress videos or like actually show how a specific artisanal technique that they're using came to be. Or, um, you know, sharing some pictures of their atelier, um, on their website or sort of as a, as an event. Um, I personally find that super interesting and I think that that's, it's, it would help people.

Mm. Like rather than it being sort of a black box of fashion, that is just where you see just only the end product. If you get to see behind how these items are made, I think people would actually like literally buy into 

Lexy: mm-hmm. 

Juliet: Those products more. 

Lexy: Yeah. No, completely. I mean, I think we need to talk more about, you know, every, these pieces are being made by [00:17:00] hand, like we need to.

Bring that more to the forefront. 'cause again, as I was saying, like I think so many people think that these are made by machines when they're not. Um, whether you're buying from a fast fashion company or a small business, and, um, I think it's important to, to call that out. But I, I, I want to go to like a Berlin Fashion Week or like a Copenhagen Fashion Week so bad because right in New York, at New York Fashion Week.

It's like I'll go down the list of all the designers and it's like maybe like two of them are like focused on sustainability and I'm like, no. Like we, during these big weeks or during even just like it's award season right now with like the Oscars and Grammys and all that jazz, and I'm like, these are huge, huge, huge events that are taking place and.

So oftentimes, you know, you, they get asked the question or we're talking about like the fashion or who are you wearing or whatever. Um, yeah. And so I'm like, if we're already talking about, you know, fashion and what's happening at the Grammys and who won what and often [00:18:00] changes and performances and whatever, like we, these are great opportunities to be talking about sustainability and I, I.

I just wish that we were seeing more of it. I do think it's, you know, even just encouraging when like, I don't know actually what she wore at this most recent Grammys, but I think like last year Billie Eilish wore a pair of like Thrifted shoes and I was like, see, like. It's the tiniest thing, like a pair of drifted shoes.

But it has such an impact where I'm like, everything was like Billie Eilish wears, drifted shoes, the Grammy. Yeah. It's like if we can be doing more of that, I think it's so important. 

Juliet: Yeah. I think, um, sustainability in fashion or in general. Mm-hmm. Something can be a bit of a downer. Yeah. And because it's, it often because of what it is, it can have sort of an accusatory aspect.

It can have a sort of like, um, a bit of a heavy aspect, like, sort of like you have to think about what you wear. Um, and I think sometimes when [00:19:00] people consume fashion, like either like buying it or like looking at the outfits online and stuff, sometimes they also just wanna be either entertained or like.

Taken to a different lighter space. Um, so I find that, or that's also something we try to do with, um, human touch, even though it a component of it can be very heavy and weighing down because of sort of the, you know, the severity of the working conditions in some parts of the world. But we also wanna emphasize that making something by hand can be something very beautiful and, um, fascinating and interesting.

And, um, so it, I think with these narratives around sustainable fashion, it's important to also make them sort of fun and, you know, or even sexy or sort of like that, you know what people. Desire when they want to dress themselves up. It's not always wanting to be on the moral high ground. Mm-hmm. It's also just feeling cool or whatever.

Lexy: Yeah. And that's where we go back to the [00:20:00] storytelling bit of it all, where it's like, how do we get this across in a fun way? I was just having a conversation with someone where I was like, I feel like the second you say like vegan or vegetarian people get so turned off. Um, and I understand that there are like.

People out there that are like super extreme and you know, kind of out there guilting people for their habits and things like that. And I honestly think like that was part of my sustainable journey is like not guilting people for it. Um, and. I just find it so interesting of like, how do I get this across where I'm having this conversation, but I kind of meet them where they're at, meet them at their interests, and then like slickly slide in like, oh 

Juliet: yeah, 

Lexy: no, that's sustainable and ethical.

Like, like I have it now where all of my friends, when they thrift something, they're like, thanks. I thrifted it. And I'm like, oh good. I like, they know that they're gonna be encouraged by me because I love when they thrift something. So, yeah. Let's make it positive, let's make it cool. Let's make it sexy.

Like I, I [00:21:00] am right there with you. Well, this has been amazing. I always like to end my podcast on what are some top tips for someone who is starting their journey to a more sustainable lifestyle. 

Juliet: Hmm. Um, so something I like to do, um. I have to say, I'm not a, I'm not a minimalist in my, you know, of, you know, shopping and whatever consuming.

Um, so what I like to do is think twice about what I buy, meaning you, if you wanna buy it and you're not entirely, you know, entirely sure from the get go, go away, think about it. And if you're still thinking about it, you can go back and get it. And I bet like. 80% of the time you will have forgotten about the product by the time you're around the block.

Lexy: Mm-hmm. 

Juliet: And that's something that works really well for me when I'm like not super certain. Um, so yeah. And also pretty easy because if you do continue thinking about it, you know, you can go and treat yourself. 

Lexy: Yeah, exactly. I think that's so smart. I think we are doing things. [00:22:00] Way too fast. And if we just slowed down for literally half a second, we would be making a lot less of the purchases that we make.

Juliet: Yeah, exactly. 

Lexy: Well, where can people find you on social media or anywhere else? 

Juliet: So we are on Instagram, um, under, at the Human Touch, under Underscore Clothing. I'll say that again at he. At the human touch clothing, and then we're on TikTok. I believe it's just human touch clothing. Um, I don't frequent TikTok that often, I have to say.

Um, and then we have our website, human touch clothing.com, where we also have our web shop and our next upcycling line drop is coming next week. So. Um, yeah. Can go over there. Have a look. 

Lexy: Amazing. Well, thank you so, so, so much for coming on and chatting with me. You do amazing work. It's so cool to, to see. Um

Welcome to the Lexie Show Fashion. That gives a damn. Where we expose fast fashion and celebrate the brands and products actually making a difference for our planet. I'm Lexi Silverstein, and today I am talking with Juliet Seeger, banks founder of Human Touch Turning. Oh no. What is a good little description?

Lexy: Human.

Okay.

Founder of Human Touch, a Berlin, Berlin based fashion brand that uses a unique pink. Let's start that over. Founder of Human Touch, a Berlin based fashion brand that uses a unique paint sewing technique to make the human labor behind garment production visible and celebrated through its distinctive handcrafted pieces.

Hello, Juliet. How are you doing?

Oh no. If you're new here, head to lexi silverstein.com for information on sustainable fashion, eco-conscious living, and if you love what you hear, subscribe and share this episode. It helps more than you think. Juliet, welcome. How are you doing? Okay. That's it for this week's episode of the Lexi Show Fashion.

That gives a damn please. Wow. Can I do anything big thanks to Juliet for showing us what circular design looks like in action, whether it's fashion or everyday products. This is how sustainability should [00:23:00] work. If this conversation resonated with you, subscribe so you don't miss an episode. Leave a review and share this with someone who needs to hear it.

Head to alexis silverstein.com for more content on sustain. Style and conscious consumption. And follow me on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube at Lexi Silverstein. That's LEXY, silver like the color, S-T-E-I-N. Remember to live a good life and look fucking good doing it, and demand better from the brands in your closet and everywhere else.

See you next week.