Tag Archives: Sustainable fashion

News

Planet-conscious PR agency partners with recycled cashmere company

A Yorkshire-based, purpose-driven PR agency has been appointed to handle the PR for the second-hand cashmere brand, Nearly New Cashmere Co.

LIT Communication is supporting Nearly New Cashmere Co with a tailor-made digital PR strategy and media relations to help grow the digital presence of its eCommerce store. They’ll also be raising awareness on a local and regional level for the fashion company’s physical retail store in Masham, Yorkshire Dales and their busy schedule of pop-up events.

Established in 2018 and based in West Yorkshire, LIT Communication is a conscious copywriting and PR agency specialising in ethical communications, public relations management and strategy. The agency is a remote-first, 4-day working week business that supports clients from all over the globe to drive organic business growth and brand awareness.

Nearly New Cashmere Co was founded in 2015 by Alison Orr after she decided to pursue her passion for second-hand buying and selling. Now, the sustainable fashion retailer has a growing team and continuously finds innovative new ways to restore and recycle discarded 100% cashmere that would otherwise face a future in landfill – transforming them into high-quality, unique cashmere pieces. The company is on a mission to be the go-to destination for luxurious, sustainable cashmere clothing and accessories at affordable prices. 

Sophie Marsden, Director of LIT Communication, explains: “We’ve recently started to focus on working with climate-conscious and sustainable companies and are delighted that Alison and the team at Nearly New Cashmere Co have chosen us to manage their PR. 

“While we don’t exclusively work with eco-friendly businesses, we are being much more selective about the types of clients that we work with. The opportunity to work with people like Alison and her team, whose values closely align with ours, is fantastic. We can’t wait to communicate the brand’s story and raise awareness of the positive impact that second-hand fashion can have on the planet.

“Our values must align with that of our clients, and we would rather grow slowly without compromising on that. I’m not afraid of turning down briefs from companies that aren’t a good fit for us.”

Nearly New Cashmere Founder and Co-Director Ali Orr commented: “PR is a significant investment for our small business marketing budget. So, we needed to choose a team that could help us multiply our output and maximise every penny spent on marketing. It was clear from their pitch that this would be the case with LIT Communication. Like us, LIT Communication is a small but ambitious team, so it was an easy value-led decision.”

“We have ambitious plans to grow the business. We have a strong returning customer base but plan to make big strides at increasing the top of our funnel in the next 1-2 cashmere seasons. With the cost of paid ads increasing, we plan to achieve this with an email and SMS-based loyalty programme and PR.”

The new client win follows a successful first nine months of the year for LIT Communication after securing new PR contracts with Systemise Fulfilment, Bobble Digital, and That Works Agency.

Fashion, London News, News, North of England, Retail, Retail & E-commerce

Recycled cashmere brand hosts pop-ups at John Lewis this September

Luxury second-hand fashion brand, Nearly New Cashmere Co is set to host two pop-up stores later this month at high-street retailer John Lewis stores in Greater Manchester and London.

The family-run company was established in 2015 by entrepreneur Ali Orr from her home in the Yorkshire Dales. Since then, it’s become a leading shopping destination for cashmere lovers – who can shop for luxury cashmere knitwear at affordable prices. 

The skilled team at Nearly New Cashmere Co works meticulously to restore, repair and hand-finish cashmere pieces to a like-new standard. They’re also passionate about waste reduction and finding innovative ways to reuse discarded cashmere. This process includes transforming jumpers into neck warmers, fingerless gloves, beanie hats and other accessories.

The sustainable fashion brand has a restore and repair service for customers who wish to extend the life of their existing cashmere pieces and exchange service. The exchange service is for customers that want to exchange their old cashmere items for credit to spend at Nearly New Cashmere Co. The team hopes this will encourage people to wear clothing and accessories for longer and positively impact the environment.

Sharing more about what customers can expect at the pop-ups, founder Ali Orr comments: “At Nearly New Cashmere Co, we specialise in repairing and restoring second-hand and vintage 100% cashmere clothing into like-new quality cashmere pieces. We are passionate about saving discarded garments that would otherwise end up going to waste.

“Over the years, we’ve hosted many pop-up stores and stalls at fairs across the UK, and we’re always excited to run these. They’re an excellent opportunity to meet some of our customers in person. 

“We will have an extensive range of men’s and women’s cashmere clothing and accessories available at the pop-up shops, including cashmere scarves, cashmere jumpers, and cashmere cardigans. 

“We appreciate that second-hand and sustainable shoppers are conscious about the products they’re buying, and rightly so. With that in mind, the pop-ups present a great opportunity to chat with customers about the products, the repair and restoration process, and cashmere care and styling.”

The Nearly New Cashmere Co pop-up stalls will take place later this month at the John Lewis store in Stratford, London, from 20-25 September, and the John Lewis store in Trafford, Manchester, from 26 September-2 October. 

Both of these events coincide with Oxfam’s Second Hand September – a sustainable style challenge to encourage people to buy only second hand items for 30 days in the month of September.

Fashion, News

EU Fashion Designer uses new technology to produce sustainable collection

Ganit Goldstein, a London based fashion and textile designer presents a 3D printed garment collection crafted from sustainably sourced fabrics and plastics. In an effort to move away from the mass production of fast fashion, the collection was created using bespoke body measurements from a 360 degree body scanner. The result is a cutting edge concept of personalized garment production, made to last, that will perfectly fit the individuals form.

In a move to revolutionize the fashion production of the future, Ganit Goldstein was included in an EU Horizon 2020 Re-Fream grant for selected designers who were chosen to design collections that challenge the current fashion industries production methods.

Ganit who has been studying on the prestigious ‘Soft Systems’ textile MA course at London’s Royal College of Art, has produced a 7 look collection named ‘WeAreAble’. The collection is inspired by traditional Japanese techniques and Ikat weaving, using a unique combination of hand crafted methods and a combination of past and future technologies. Ganit is one of the fashion industries first designers to have worked with such technology and worked in collaboration with Stratasy’s 3D multicolour printing and other tech partners Haratech for 3D body scanning and Profactor materials. Two outfits produced using Stratasys J850 new technique of printing onto fabric, using unique combination of colours and materials including the vero clear new transparent material launched this year. These two outfits present a hybrid working process of embroidery and 3D printing technology; this is a unique approach for the future of 3D printing in the world of textiles.

The process of production begins with Ganit using a body scanner with a ‘depth’ camera to get full body measurements from the individual. Each garment is then crafted from 3D to 2D CAD manipulations which create a single, precise piece of fabric for the garment, meaning there is less need for multiple seams and fabrics to create a single garment. The collection focuses on a sustainable approach using 3D printing without any support or waste materials.
Ganit had planned to launch the collection at Berlins annual ‘wear it summit ‘exhibition, but with new social distancing laws in place, she has worked with tech company Intel Corporation to help engineer a virtual reality technology that creates a realistic 360 exhibition space to display the collection. This allows the audience to view the 3D collection in augmented reality via her website.

Goldstein hopes that this cutting edge personalised process will offer an eco-friendly alternative to customers looking to move away from the fast fashion industry. Goldstein comments, ‘The new reality of Covid-19 has pushed me and my partners to think about new possibilities to change the fashion industries current systems. I was inspired to create the collections using these cutting edge techniques after seeing the devastating impact fast fashion has on the environment. Buying multiple cheaper items not only has an overwhelming effect on the planet it also means lower quality items which the wearer will be unlikely to wear more than once. Making one quality, classic piece which fits the individual perfectly means a more sustainable approach to fashion. I hope that given the technologies we now have available to us, designers will work towards creating fewer, bespoke pieces and we can enjoy fashion without impacting the planet’.

To learn more visit: http://ganitgoldstein.com/