Do sustainable London Fashion Week designers actually exist?

In an event dedicated to newness (considering the very definition of fashion is that it’s transient and trend-led) do sustainable London Fashion Week designers actually exist? This season there were moments of optimism and innovation that hinted at a more considered future for an industry which is often called out for being one of the world’s most polluting.

Copenhagen Fashion Week, which wrapped up last month, has set out a list of 18 sustainability targets for any designer that wants to be part of the event, including ensuring at least half of the collection is made from materials that are certified, upcycled or recycled.

As it stands, the British Fashion Council hasn’t adopted this tight a regime, “London Fashion Week hosts a mixture of established and emerging brands and as result of this, setting a one-size-fits-all sustainability standard is not feasible without alienating smaller businesses,” Caroline Rush CEO at the BFC told GLAMOUR. “That being said, our work with Copenhagen Fashion Week’s Sustainability Action Plan has shaped our Minimum and Bronze Standards for BFC NEWGEN designer participants. Each of the Minimum and Bronze standards are mapped against the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and apply to seven focus areas of a garment’s life cycle - strategic direction, design, smart material choices, manufacturing & distribution, working conditions, consumer engagement, and fashion shows. We also encourage everyone within our network to take tangible action by committing to initiatives such as the Race to Zero, joining the UNFCC and The Fashion Pact and supporting the Sustainable Markets Initiative. Through the Institute of Positive Fashion Forum, an annual action-focused event, we can track progress and monitor commitments made by our network.”

That strategy seems to be working. The most impactful designers this season took major strides - or reiterated their sustainable viewpoint - on ethical creation this season. Caroline drew our attention to Ray Chu’s biodegradable tea leaf leather and Jakke’s vegan leather, both future-proof options and these are the designers that took sustainability seriously for autumn winter 2023… 

Ancuta Sarca is leading the way in upcycled footwear design and now includes ready-to-wear too. In a collaboration with Lee Jeans, the Romanian designer has repurposed their deadstock denim and turned it into an array of Y2K inspired pieces - bralettes, form-fitting skirts and detachable sleeves came with a deadstock faux shearling trim. Only 1% of clothing gets recycled into new clothes and shoes are even harder to dispose of, yet Sarca collects unwanted shoes, trainers and fabrics and rebuilds them to devastating effect. Bella Hadid and Dua Lipa are fans. For autumn / winter 2023, as well as the denim pieces, there were boots using vintage quilted nylon jackets and kitten heels adorned with end-of-roll faux furs. Square-toe loafers used deadstock leather and unwanted sports mesh while red patent heels with wrap-around ties snaked up the leg and hybrid trainer boots looked good as new despite - or perhaps because of - their left-over origins.

Conner Ives’ spliced t-shirt dresses have become a street style favourite but for the American designer’s second show at LFW, he moved beyond daywear to create a fully fleshed out collection that majored on ‘reconstituted’ garments. Silk scarves came pre-loved and were turned into dresses to wear over jeans… Recycled faux fur, denim and jersey were transformed into jeans and patchwork pieces… If it wasn’t something old, Ives used Tencel, a more considered material, for shirts and tailoring. Seeing upcycled items on the catwalk, at one of the hottest labels on the schedule, should surely push other creatives into thinking beyond brand new. 

A long time advocate of upcycling, Priya Ahluwalia previously focused on repurposing sportswear but this season, dresses, suits and shoes were the focus of a more glam collection. Always choosing organic or recycled fabrics, this season designer Ahluwalia has levelled up her transparent approach and created QR codes on each garment, which will reveal what the piece is made from, the inspiration behind it and where it was made. With traceability and transparency major sustainability goals, this is a ground-breaking innovation that should be rolled out across the industry. We stan.

Also bringing more conscious processes to her collection was Susan Fang. Lace was woven from off-cuts and the previous season’s leftovers (including wool and ribbon) became new strips of crystallised fabric. 3D printed accessories (like the cute beaded bags) cut down on excess, only using what is needed to print each piece while the flip-flops the models wore to walk through the rose-petal strewn catwalk were made from biodegradable TPU, ensuring that at end of life, the item will have the least environmental impact.

For a long time Patrick McDowell didn’t actually create actual clothes, so embedded is his commitment to sustainability, but for the sake of his second collection (shown on possibly the most inclusive casting of LFW) we are truly grateful there are IRL pieces to wear again. For a sustainable start, the made to order pieces cut down on waste that mass-produced garments create. The limited edition pieces are all made from either reclaimed materials or ethically produced fabrics and look as devastating as the most intricate couture pieces. 

Helen Kirkum spelled out exactly how she creates her upcycled trainers by displaying four x 20 metre rows of single shoes (a total of 824) that will form the raw material for her patchwork trainers (that's 137 new pairs…) “I wanted guests to feel like they were immersed in the warehouse with us on one of our sneaker-saving excursions and to see the possibilities that I see embedded in the raw materials that are considered waste.”

Reframing the thinking around fashion, newness and consumption is essential to move the industry forwards. The most innovative sustainable London Fashion Week designers prove that there are multiple ways to merge fashion and future proof its function. Spotting something on the catwalk and having to wait until autumn for it to arrive in store – that’s a whole six months – can seem painful when one click shopping and same day delivery is on hand, but taking your time is one of the best ways to shop sustainably. It’s the antithesis of fast fashion and this London Fashion Week showcased exactly why British-based designers are yet again changing the game.

Read more from Glamour UK Fashion Director at large Alex Fullerton here or follow her on Instagram @alexandrafullerton