Fiona Cartmel

Grey Sheep

Location

london / United Kingdom

University

edinburgh college of art

Graduation year

2016

Contact

She is designer who's conscience is at the forefront of her design considerations; having recently won the Vivienne Westwood Ethical Award at Graduate Fashion Week 2016 her interest in sustainability is as ardent as ever. She has expanded her knowledge in the area through research for her graduate collection and a sustainable development module within her degree. Her interest in how fashion impacts society and the environment drives her passion to push the boundaries of contemporary fashion and to question the current practices and ethos.

Latest Collection

Why So Wasteful?

The purpose of this collection is not only to be as sustainable as possible, but also to challenge unsustainable practices happening in the fashion industry.
The aim was to make the collection as sustainable as possible but also to be totally transparent about whether each element of a garment was or wasn’t wholly sustainable.
Waste within the fashion industry was the key focus for this project. I contacted hundreds of companies asking for them to send me anything they deemed as waste; damaged fabrics, offcuts, selvedge edge from manufacture and broken plastic garment bags. I then regenerated these through smocking them, creating textural, interesting materials. The use of this waste not only enabled my fabrics to have a positive affect on the environment, but also exposes the fact that so much beautiful and very usable fabrics are discarded by the industry.
Through the use of a very craft like and time intensive process like smocking, I want to encourage customers to see these pieces as investments and for them to have some longevity.