Environmentally friendly fashion brands will be showcasing how easy it is to go green at this year’s Suffolk Fashion Show – proving that sustainable fashion is the future.
Suffolk Fashion Show will return to Trinity Park on October 3 - promising to bring a stylish evening of fun filled fashion, while also displaying some of the county's most sustainable clothing brands.
The show, which will be hosted and presented by Fashion Candy Style for its seventh year running, will bring a professional catwalk with an electric mix of retailers and independents from across Suffolk and beyond.
So what eco-brands will be on show?
Bolton Bros
Bolton Brothers, one of Suffolk's leading recycling and waste management businesses has this year joined forces with the Suffolk Fashion Show - not only as a sponsor but by putting together a very special section in this year's event.
Florence Bolton-Smith, 21, who is the daughter of Jodie Bolton-Smith the director of Bolton Brothers, and friend Viola Williams, 20, both grew up in Ipswich before venturing to Norwich to study textiles and fashion at Norwich University of The Arts.
They have combined their flare for fashion and trends with the technical skills they have acquired, to create a very current artistic expression of recycling and sustainability, especially for the 2019 Suffolk Fashion Show.
Speaking of the designs, Florence said: "The direct contrast of taking a material that is deemed dirty and unsophisticated, such as granulated wheelie bins and used cd's, and completely transforming it into something that oozes elegance and the wow factor is a very exciting concept to play with - and one that we can't wait to get stuck into."
Viola added: "This kind of opportunity is priceless for us as new and inspired designers - having this platform to showcase our work and make a very current and bold statement about where fashion is headed, is something that we are honoured to be a part of." The girls' vision is very 'Christian Dior meets Alexander McQueen', with a major focus on material and texture.
"It certainly will be fun and something very different for the audience to enjoy," said Florence.
Francesca.R.Palumbo
Suffolk born Francesca is a knitwear designer based in Ipswich, who launched her brand earlier this year after spending two years designing since she graduated in 2017.
She creates intricate and detailed knitwear that follows the natural form of the female body.
Within her work she uses unique colour waves of yarns that consists of surplus/recycled or sustainable yarns blended together to make a beautiful fabric - and hopes to challenge peoples perceptions of knitwear.
She said: "My collections are inspired by the world in which we live in. I want to challenge the ideas of fast fashion and create beautiful sustainable clothes.
"Eco-clothing has grown over the last few years through people realising and challenging the damage that the fashion industry is causing on the environment."
This will be Francesca's third year at SFS, as she is also the assistant director of the event and has been part of the Fashion Candy team for seven years.
She continued: "Going into my third year of the fashion show it's so nice to look back at how much my business has grown and evolved. It was where I showed my first complete graduate collection, to now having a small capsule collection available to buy online at Ipseity."
This year she will be showcasing her new autumn/winter collection.
Hide The Label - stocked by Truffle
Truffle, is a renowned concept store in the heart of Ipswich sourcing handpicked womenswear brands - all with different stories behind them - and most of which have a sustainable element to their manufacturing and design.
A spokesman for Truffle said: "When creating the concept for Truffle, we were extremely conscious to select brands that did not support a fast fashion culture but rather encouraged people to buy less and buy better.
"It is for these reasons that when Hide The Label approached us about becoming a stockist, we were just delighted to have them.
"Not only are all the materials used plant based or made from recycled fabrics but the price point is accessible and the styles are timeless."
Hide The Label was launched by a brother and sister from Ipswich who hope to revolutionise the way people see fashion in the UK.
Founders Ryan and Sheeren Barrett say the industry needed a shift in thinking, deciding their brand would use more eco-friendly materials such as recycled polyester and plant based materials - which they say make up 80% of their fabrics.
Other eco-friendly brands to look out for at the show include:
Replay - a renowned denim brand which uses 80% less water to dye their jeans.
Coster Copenhagen - their knitwear pieces feature a material they've called 'sea wool' which is derived from recycled plastic. You'd think this would make a scratchy feeling fabric but it is actually super soft.
Further details about this year's Suffolk Fashion will be announced over the coming weeks.
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