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Christopher Raeburn to discuss sustainability at Performance Days

In the Performance Days interview, Christopher Raeburn talks about his motivation and guiding principles.

11th April 2017

Innovation in Textiles
 |  Munich

Sustainable, Clothing/​Footwear, Sports/​Outdoor

Christopher Raeburn, a well-known British fashion designer, will present on the topic of Designing Sustainability at the upcoming Performance Days event, which will take place from 26-27 April in Munich, Germany.

During his presentation on 26 April, Christopher Raeburn will share his insights on sustainable clothing, his Remade in England concept and the world of top fashion.

A graduate of London’s prestigious Royal College of Art, Christopher became known for his re-appropriation of military fabrics and in particular for iconic outerwear created from de-commissioned parachutes. The Re-made ethos still guides and influences every aspect of his design and development process. His masterpieces are created by processing recycled and sustainable fabrics.

In the Performance Days interview, he talks about his motivation and guiding principles:

Performance Days: When and why did you start to use recycled materials for your collections?

Christopher Raeburn: I started using recycled materials from the very beginning. I constructed original 1950s British battledress jackets as part of my first-year menswear university project back in 2001. Building a sustainable brand was a happy accident and not my prime intention initially. My fascination with military materials, utilitarian clothing and essentially functionality led to the Remade in England philosophy organically. The battledress jacket helped to define our brand and ethos.

What types of recycled materials do you use, and why?

CR: We have sourced and reworked a wide range of surplus materials around the globe, from decommissioned parachutes, 1930s silk maps to life rafts and more recently bomb disposal jackets.

What about your collaborations – do you use recycled materials there, too? And what do your partner-brands think about that?

CR: We have been fortunate enough to work alongside some of the best brands in the world over the past few years from Rapha, Moncler to more recently Disney, Clarks and MCM. This has allowed us to reimagine existing designs and really develop our innovative and creative side. Every collaborative project has to adhere to our Remade, Reduced, Recycled ethos. If it doesn’t then we are not doing it.

What was your most unique material used and project done?

CR: The AW15 Raft collection was very unique. We turned inflatable life rafts into beautiful outerwear pieces. The nature of the fabric made it a very challenging but rewarding project to work on.

Is there any exceptional material you couldn’t use until now that you want to use for future collections?

CR: I have a small dream to do a super limited run of Remade garments from spacesuits but so far the only ones I’ve been able to source have been a little out of our normal price range. One day though…

What type of materials and fabrics is your personal clothing made of?

CR: I wear CR head to toe most days so this is quite an easy one. I wear a lot of denim and we’ve collaborated with an amazing local sustainable label for AW17 called Blackhorse Lane Ateliers. Their jeans are made here in London from selvedge organic denim.

www.performancedays.com

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