Eco-Fashion Month: Emerging Eco Designers

2 months ago 28th Oct 16:01

We've been bringing you all things eco for the past few weeks now, including emerging design talent. We've chatted to the winner of 'Make your Mark in Fashion' and to designers Berrie, now it's time to talk to RAJE.

RAJE, who were designing for THTC beat off some pretty stiff competition to make it to the final three, and their collection was well received by all during the final, which took place during London Fashion Week.

We caught up with one of RAJE's designers, Abbie to talk about RAJE's plans for the future, about the collection and what she thinks of eco-fashion being the buzz word of the moment.

Did you enjoy the show?

Yes, it was a really really fun thing, we all really enjoyed it loads.

Were you disappointed not to win?

Erm, well yes obviously you enter a competition and you hope to win. So on that scale, yes we were quite disappointed.

What did the judges make of your collection?

Well, from what I can gather they liked the collection, and all the comments were really positive, so yeah we were really please with that.

How much do your pieces range for?

They are affordable, its one of the key points of our collection, to be affordable. And ethical fashion is for a slightly different market, but we want things to come in variety. We've got one in a jersey fabric and one will be in a silky fabric. The jersey one will be around £40-£50 and the silk ones will be slightly more expensive.

Eco-Fashion is like a buzz word now, but people don't know what it means, what does eco-fashion mean to you?

Eco-fashion, it's kind of an umbrella term for looking at the whole thing, not just looking at one thing but looking at all the things that go into the clothes. From design board to garment in the shops, so it's the growing, the producing, the printing, the sustainable quality, you know being organic. It means everything, really.

What fabrics do you use in your collection?

We don't use recycled garments, but do use either hemp or bamboo jersey, it's an eco-friendly crop, nicer to the world than cotton and is less water greedy and also there is less chemicals used in growing it.

Where do you get it from?

Erm, China. It's produced in China.

Do you have to import it from there?

What we do is it is grown in China and then brought over here to sell. So it's all done in China and reduces the carbon footprint a lot. So it's better than some clothes that are grown in one country and then made in another and then brought to the UK.

What's next for you then? Are you planning to launch a label?

Yes, we are. This competition has been an amazing opportunity for us and it has kick started us. All the contacts have given us so much encouragement and support and it's been really good. So we're going to start on our label range soon.

How did you come up with your name, it's quite interesting?

It's our initials, and it expresses exactly who we are and what we want to do.

What do you think of fast-fashion?

Well, I'm not its biggest fan to be honest, I'm really into sustainable fashion, so buying clothes to last, so really good quality and that's what are label is about. good quality clothes that fit really well, so that you wear them again and again and they don't just run out in a few months. I think there is loads of factors that contribute to the trend for fast-fashion, though.

Have you always been involved in eco-fashion, or is this your first time branching out into it?

Two of our members have only just finished uni and the others have just finished school, so we haven't got a background in anything yet. But watch this space...