From Textile Heritage to Sustainable Futures: ReFAB Studio Reviews Leicester Made & Regions
ReFAB Studio creates beautiful, bespoke lifestyle products from luxury fabrics that would otherwise end up in landfill, combining sustainable design with timeless craftsmanship. As part of The Kartik Foundation, every handcrafted piece supports local female artisans and empowers conscious consumers to make a positive impact on both people and the planet. Connecting with Fashion-Enter Ltd ReFAB Studio is currently running a series of collaborative upcycling workshops, supported by the Clothworkers’ Company, designed to empower local communities through circular design, practical skill-building, and sustainable creativity. Exhibiting at Leicester Made & Regions, ReFAB Studio intern Mihir Raddi, reviewed the event and compiled the following blog post…
Nobody quite knows what caused the industrial revolution. Economists and historians debate endlessly over which factors were causal, which were resultant, and which were coincidental, but we still have no single complete explanation for the phenomenon.
We do know some things, though. We know that the city of Leicester had long been a centre for textiles manufacturing, with a deep tradition of knitting cottage industries. From the mid-eighteenth century onward, with the onset of the industrial revolution, the city saw a sharp increase in textile output. By the mid-nineteenth century, Leicester’s textile sector had been industrialised, and its output was exported across the world. “Leicester Clothes the World”, read a 1930s slogan.
We also know that this era of industrialization did not last forever. Government policies in the late 20th century shifted towards a service-based economy. British manufacturing became less competitive internationally, as producers turned towards other, cheaper parts of the world. The number of textiles factories in Leicester, and the volume of their output has greatly reduced since the sector’s heyday one hundred years ago.
Nevertheless, the city has retained a hub of textile production, ripe for fresh ideas. And in a world where sustainability and circularity are increasingly important, there is opportunity for Leicester’s textile industry. This was the key theme at Leicester Made (LM). Here, I was representing ReFAB Studio and its collaboration with Fashion Enter, to upskill community tailors in the art of upcycling. Creating bespoke products from premium textile remnants that would otherwise end in landfill. The project is funded by the Clothworker’s Company, a historic livery company that has reinvented its purpose in the age of sustainability.
What struck me most about Leicester Made was how the wide the array of organizations, companies, and individuals in attendance was. To see independent designers, industry consultants, lawyers, material-researchers, button and label-makers, all under one roof really underpinned the importance of collaboration in the push towards sustainability. A particular highlight was a panel discussion which dove into the impact of the upcoming Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) regulations on industry stakeholders.
It’s difficult to comprehend the scale of and intricacies within an industry. Connecting pieces within a system and understanding how they react to changes within it is no easy task— as those economists and historians studying the industrial revolution will tell you. But at Leicester Made, I caught a glimpse of how radical visions of industrial rejuvenation and environmental sustainability flow through organizations and people from different niches within a sector. Ultimately, this is the mechanism through which ideas translate into actions, and sustainable futures are built.