Sustainability

As a Designer I’ve always been driven by a sense of fairness all the way along the supply chain, from fabric producer to the machinist who sews the garment, and a need for us as consumers to understand the work that is involved in producing clothes, and understanding the value within a piece of clothing as opposed to the price it is sold for.

At Julian Road we produce all our garments in the UK. The accessories are all hand cut and made in Shropshire by outworkers, utilising the wealth of skills left over in the area after the closure in the late 90’s of the Laura Ashley Factory and Walters in the early 2000’s. The tailoring is made in  London by an independent unit specialising in traditional quality tailoring, it’s a unit I have worked with since my Favourbrook days.

The cloth...we work predominantly with 100% wool tweed which is woven here in the UK. Wool is an organic material, naturally renewable, biodegradable and recyclable. There is a good argument that sheep are not a sustainable resource for food or materials. Sheep are enteric animals meaning that they release methane, a potent greenhouse gas, as a by-product of their digestive process. On the other side of the ledger is the fact that wool and other natural fibres use much less energy (and therefore have less emissions) in their production than synthetic fibres. Wool, because it is an organic material, sequesters carbon, like wood does. Provided the wool is grown, and wool fabrics are produced, in the most sustainable way they are an excellent choice.We aim to design a product that will last many seasons prolonging the life of the wool.

With the cottons, we are moving towards organic, the lining of the Gilets is now organic cotton jersey rather than fleece. The linings of the gilets arec now sheep fleece as opposed to synthetic fillers. Every little bit counts and we try to produce as thoughtfully and responsibly as possible.