Last night, we kicked off London Fashion Week with a celebration of sustainability in fashion. For the second year running, the Centre for Sustainable Fashion at LCF collaborated with H&M, in a project involving LCF students exploring the concept of circularity.
LCFxH&M on the Strand
Thirty three teams of students from BA (Hons) Fashion Design & Technology Womenswear and BA (Hons) Fashion Jewellery were challenged with designing capsule womenswear collections, using garments and materials provided through H&M’s in-store garment collecting scheme.
The eight winning collections were selected by an expert panel of judges including; Dilys Williams – Director of the Centre for Sustainable Fashion at LCF, Orsola de Castro – designer & campaigner, Shee Fun Chan – Course Leader, London College of Fashion & Catarina Midby – H&M UK & IE Sustainability Manager, and are on display in H&M stores across London.
LCFxH&M Flagship Store lounge
The launch event, which took place at the H&M flagship store on Oxford Street, saw fashion students and press come together to celebrate the collections. Speaking at the event, Dean of the School of Design and Technology Professor Jose Teunissen talked about LCF’s focus on sustainability in fashion, while Catarina Midby, H&M UK & IE Sustainability Manager said:
As leaders in sustainability, it is hugely important for us to continue working to promote the importance of garment recycling to our customers. Garment recycling is the first step towards achieving our goal of 100% circularity.
LCFxH&M at Long Acre
Renee Cuoco from the Centre for Sustainable Fashion told us:
It has been exciting to explore sustainability with LCF students at the beginning of their journey. In response to a challenging design brief, they have shown us new possibilities for fashion and this is what the industry now needs from our future graduates.
H&M are currently the only fashion brand that offers a garment collecting service in all stores worldwide. The scheme offers customers the chance to donate unwanted clothes, by any brand, in any condition, to any H&M store.
The collections can be viewed across five London H&M stores for the duration of London Fashion Week from 16th – 20th September 2016.