Phoebe English: What Sustainability Means To Me

The fashion industry is having urgent conversations about how to lessen its environmental impact, from the challenges of growing and processing raw materials responsibly to closing the loop in manufacturing.

Award-winning fashion designer Phoebe English will share her approach to sustainability in the design and production of her eponymous brand. Using examples from her most recent collection and ongoing research, Phoebe will discuss how she has embedded circularity into her design practice and the wider business.

About Phoebe English

The PHOEBE ENGLISH label, founded in 2011, creates pieces with close attention to detail and quality, rejecting mass-made or ‘fast’ fashion. All production is made in London, meaning the footprint from sketch to garment is minimised and the entire business operates from one studio in South London. The brand’s dual roots of craftsmanship and reduced negative environmental impact are never sacrificed where possible and a bedrock sense of producer responsibility underlies all decisions from design to business and. The growth of the brand proves to be tackling obstacles that have been put in place within the traditional fashion and retail sectors, and aims to look at design as a solution-based opportunity to respond the extreme environmental times we live in.

The clothing comprises an ever-evolving search for communicative design and construction, exploring a personal narrative through surface structure, and textile engineering. As well as employing a straightforward, natural and utilitarian nature.

Phoebe English trained at Central Saint Martins where she completed both BA and MA in Fashion. On graduation, she was awarded the L’Oreal Professional Prize, Ungaro Bursary and Chloe Award. She has been nominated for both emerging Menswear and Womenswear categories several times and has worked across a wide variety of disciplines and organisations, regularly guest lecturing in leading Universities.