Yorkshire-based Alex Jones of Studio Kettle prefers to think of garments as narrative objects. The story of a garment begins with the process of its creation - it's loaded with the history of honest workmanship.
Many of Studio Kettle's items are cut from abstract paintings on canvas, and thus their narrative begins as a work of art.
Paris-based Gareth Casey is heavily inspired by workwear, using the finest milled traditional fabrics in his collections. He is perhaps best known for his signature paper cotton fabric, an absolute necessity around the shop with its soft hand and beautifully wrinkled appearance.
Each garment is finished with a hand sewn red thread, a Casey Casey trademark and a nod to the meticulous construction and attention to detail on all of their garments.
UK-based brand with a strong emphasis on cut and fabrication. The designer, Bella, started this line after an 18 year career in luxury fashion as a designer and pattern cutter. They have strong relationships with their Italian, Portuguese, and Welsh fabric mills that align with their practice.
Everything in Nitto's collections is handknitted or hand sewn, and produced in very small batches with a dedication to sustainability with zero waste production. All excess and cast-off is reused in clothes, accessories, or packaging. A Nitto sweater can require up to 50 hours of work, and the handwritten tag includes the name of the person who made the garment.
Elena Dawson works with only a handful of retailers, and her designs are driven by cloth, rather than sketches.
Her experience as a seamstress after university greatly influences her work. “I draw on the knowledge I learned at the tailors still now in the way I make clothing—when you work on alterations you are really tearing the guts out of the garment, performing a sort of autopsy—you really get to see a garment at its most vulnerable point. Observing this state of semi deconstruction in the making of a garment or shoe is what I like to retain in my finished work."
All pieces are handmade in the UK.
Sara Lanzi is a mainly feminine wardrobe focusing on elevated basics, via durable fabrics and realistic forms. In a classic and understated manner, SL favors simplicity and the lack of unnecessary frill. Sara lives and works in Perugia, surrounded by a small team and an abundance of greenery.
Boboutic’s approach to knitwear is unpredictable, aiming at creating a product where materials and structures compensate each other.
The yarn, considered as an endless line, is ideally kept intact by rejecting the use of scissors in the making of the garments. They work around the idea of a “knitwear wardrobe”, living and working in Florence, Italy.
London-based Toogood is the brainchild of sisters Faye & Erica Toogood. Faye worked as a costume designer and a pattern cutter before combining forces with her sister to focus on this line that features unique, sculptural, and genderless silhouettes inspired by workwear.
“A celebration of craftsmanship has been at the core of the brand from the outset. Each piece takes its name, inspiration and cut from a traditional trade: the ‘Metalworker’ jacket, the ‘Stonemason’ trouser, and so on.
Toogood’s clothing is instilled with the unmistakable spirit of both sisters: Faye’s preoccupation with materiality and Erica’s audacious shape-making. One a tinker, the other a tailor.”