This blog is about family travel around the world without leaving the UK. We do this in a bid to be less polluting and tackle climate change while at the same time keeping a global outlook so it's always exciting to meet people with the same sustainability goals but a very different approach. Here's how pomegranates, onion skin and happy silk worms make such a beautiful contribution to fashion via the clothes of Kitty Ferreira. Words from Nicola Baird (see www.nicolabaird.com for more info about my books and blogs).
What's it all about?
Kitty Ferreira is a sustainable fashion brand from London which has been wowing London and Brighton Fashion Week audiences. It's not just the fabulous clothes from Kitty Ferreira founder, Valerie Goode, it's also the way she makes them, and the reasons she sticks to chic sustainable fashion.
At the end of October 2015 I invited Valerie to talk Kitty Ferreira to my fashion-loving blogging students and this is the result:
Dila - Q: What's your inspiration?
Ethics and the natural world. My background is Caribbean and the brand is named after my grandmother. I looked at the land and the way she relied on it to feed herself, clothe herself and heal herself and I looked at my own experiences and tried to blend the two – boardroom to bar style. I wanted something you can wear to work, and wear out in evening… it’s not frivolous style. Take a look at my interview with BrightonFashion Week here.
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Zivile - Q: are the jacket and top your own products?
Valerie Goode: Yes the blue jacket and white peace silk shirt are both my label, Kitty Ferreira. I often wear my own products – you never know who you are going to meet.
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Kitty Ferreira is a sustainable fashion brand from London which has been wowing London and Brighton Fashion Week audiences. It's not just the fabulous clothes from Kitty Ferreira founder, Valerie Goode, it's also the way she makes them, and the reasons she sticks to chic sustainable fashion.
"Fashion is the second most polluting industry (after oil). To understand more watch a movie called The true cost
Valerie Goode, MD and founder of Kitty Ferreira.
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| University students with Valerie Goode from Kitty Ferreira sustainable fashion. |
Ethics and the natural world. My background is Caribbean and the brand is named after my grandmother. I looked at the land and the way she relied on it to feed herself, clothe herself and heal herself and I looked at my own experiences and tried to blend the two – boardroom to bar style. I wanted something you can wear to work, and wear out in evening… it’s not frivolous style. Take a look at my interview with BrightonFashion Week here.
Perside - Q: Do you have
to know people to succeed in the industry?
It's extremely competitive and that’s even more reason why you
need to stand for something. Fortunate that there is talk of ethical fashion
throughout media and it is becoming more and more
mainstream. Even the larger retailers are taking on sustainability in supply chains
– H&M, and a few weeks ago M&S (see article here).
When I started I had to forget almost everything I’d learnt
throughout my 12 year career fashion buying. All my contacts became obsolete. I had to start from scratch and source a sustainable supply chain, sustainable fabrics, and find sustainable processes
and procedures for production.
When running a business you can’t be focused on what the barriers
are. I try to have positive attitude.
I wouldn’t worry about who you don’t know, rather who you would like to know.
Valerie Goode, MD & founder of Kitty Ferreira
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| Valerie Goode from Kitty Ferreira looked to her Caribbean roots for inspiration for her fashion brand. She says that pomegranate can be used as a super natural dye for high end fashion. She uses it on upcycled silk and peace silks (that don't harm silk worms) to make clothes of the most cheerful, glowing yellow. |
Lannay Q: Why
pomegranates?
I was looking for a wow factor. It’s the
reason why I’ve been able to achieve a lot in short time. I wanted to
incorporate an ethical practice and natural procedure so using natural
materials to dye fabrics was a no brainer. I settled on two materials because
of the beautiful colours. On the high street your wouldn’t see these colour ways. When
we are designing colours we are looking at the white skin – you can see (on mywebsite/lookbook) that these colours suit darker skins v well. It’s two fingers
to that side of that industry! Fashion needs to be more representative. I did a
catwalk with models of diversity so there were disabled models, bigger than average models, different ethnicities at the Ideal Home show 2014 - and my garments go up to size 26
Go follow Kitty Ferreira
Let's hope more of the public hear about the Kitty Ferreira brand and are as inspired by it as these university students were by Valerie's visit. You can read more about Valerie Goode at this blog I posted on islington faces in July 2015. Or follow what she's up to on social media...
Let's hope more of the public hear about the Kitty Ferreira brand and are as inspired by it as these university students were by Valerie's visit. You can read more about Valerie Goode at this blog I posted on islington faces in July 2015. Or follow what she's up to on social media...
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