Designer Katie Jones Takes Locally Made to the Next Level With the "Make-It-Yourself" Collection
Katie Jones is a designer dedicated to creating local, sustainable products. Her designs have appeared in The Guardian, Vogue Dazed and Confused, The Telegraph and many more publications.
In 2016 she won the Selfridges “Bright New Things” Award. Selfridge’s “Bright New Things” supports emerging designers, specifically those who are socially and environmentally conscious. With her work being sold through Selfridge’s, Jones’ brand and consumer group have experienced even more growth.
Katie Jones’ “Make-it-Yourself” Collection
The Make-It-Yourself collection brings the customer into the process of making their clothes, which makes the final product even more special. It also allows for greater personalization of clothes as customers can choose, design, and make their own clothing item.
Jones loves making her products. She sometimes spends up to 80 hours on a single garment and loves every second. The actual “make” process is important to her because she knows the product she’s making will be treasured.
The all-crocheted brand consists of brightly colored designs, and a wide range of clothing types. Dresses, sweaters, tops, blankets and even holiday stockings are all available in the collection. Templates for the designs are sold digitally, in addition to hook sets for those who don’t have their own crochet tools.
The Sustainability of Katie Jones
Because Jones’s products are essentially handmade, their environmental impact is minimal. Crocheting and knitting are sustainable practices. The products are made almost from scratch and using very few materials; there is little to no waste. Jones refers to this process as “something beautiful from nothing.”
Jones is fairly critical of the fashion industry and believes that it is quite wasteful. However, this criticism led her down an avenue that greatly affected her style.
When she was just starting out, Jones would use scrap and leftover materials to create clothing pieces. She views her designs as puzzles and is always trying to work leftover materials into her clothes.
There are multiple sustainability issues within clothing production. Jones is aware she cannot tackle them all when it comes to her brand. However, the one battle she chose has defined her brand.
Over consumption is an issue within the fashion industry. When clothes are designed for trends, they eventually go out of style. Jones however tries to stay away from trends and work on clothes that are timeless. When people have clothes they want to wear over and over again, there is less need to buy more.
Katie Jones’s Success
Jones’s dedication to creating local, sustainable products has not gone unnoticed. In 2016 she won the Selfridges “Bright New Things” Award.
Selfridges “Bright New Things” supports emerging designers, specifically those who are socially and environmentally conscious. With her work being sold through Selfridge’s, Jones’ brand and consumer group have experienced even more growth.
Her designs have appeared in The Guardian, Vogue Dazed and Confused, The Telegraph and many more publications.
Sustainable Fashion
Like Jones many other designers are committed to sustainable practices and are trying to change the ways of the fashion industry.
Designer Faustine Steinmetz works with handcrafted denim in an effort to avoid mass-produced materials. To do this, Steinmetz and her team spin, weave, and dye the denim on their own.
Another brand, AURIA is exceptionally sustainable in their use of recycled fishing nets in bathing suit designs. Not only are they reusing materials, they’re also removing waste that would pollute the ocean and harm marine life.
Like Jones, UNMADE is dedicated to creating very personalized pieces. The label offers customers a chance to design their own knitwear from a variety of prints online. Although UNMADE uses knitting machines, the actual practice of knitting is quite sustainable.