Katherine West - Portfolio 

Whilst studying part-time on the MA course, I was also running Cookie West Showroom & Party Plan. For the Fashion Promotion and Illustration module, which aimed to broaden and improve your visual presentation skills of a  fashion design concept and collection, I selected to pattern draft and construct a number of the garments as well. To give further making experience and to give the opportunity of bringing fashion photography & film making into my studies. (I later used these skills for the communication of my MA Major Design Project). In this module I designed a collection of co-ordinating lingerie, shapewear, womenswear and nightwear pieces and communicated the 'Mona by Cookie West' collection through an online brochure, photography & video. The nightwear pieces were then further developed and sold at Cookie West Showroom and the dresses were developed as a bespoke design project for model and muse Lauren. This nightwear collection became the first of several Cookie West 'own label' soft lingerie & nightwear collections.

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I decided to take an upcycling approach to the design of the collection and sourced all fabrics, trims and components from a supplier who specialised in 'end of line' contour fabrics. I had good knowledge of the qualities/properties of the fabrics already, as I had sold lingerie, nightwear and loungewear garments made from them at Cookie West Boutique in previous years, from a variety of Contour Fashion brands. This also meant that I had all the fabric & trim composition and laundering & care information and could label the upcycled designs accurately. At the time, upcycling had started to become popular as a way for 'end of line' or 'reclaimed' materials to be diverted from going into landfill and to have a 'second life'. I creatively put together the fabrics and trims into the new garment designs, ensuring they were used in different garments and in different ways or combinations than in their 'first life'. As a small business this was an economic way to produce high quality, small 'own label' collections to sell alongside branded ranges and meant that I was giving these 'end of line' material resources a second life and keeping them in use for longer. However, I was aware there needed to be far improved solutions to creating less waste in the fashion industry and aware that the fabric was simply having its journey delayed to being downcycled or disposal in landfill. I viewed upcycling as a short term, resourceful method to deal with the current waste created by an inefficient fashion system, but that in the long term the model needed to change so that 'waste' was not created.

Through reading of articles and what clothing brands were doing I began to explore what was possible in terms of fully recycling synthetic fabrics and what was the potential for contour fabrics being made from recycled plastic waste. Questioning whether this was safe for skin and the environment, could there be energy and resource savings (compared to making raw virgin materials) and could fibre-to-fibre recycling be possible for synthetic contour garments at the end of their lives? Could creating more sustainable and ecologically safe synthetic fibres and fabrics, be less harmful than the water and pesticides used for cotton agriculture (or the water consumption needed for organic cotton)? Could polyester be safely and continuously recycled? I looked at Patagonia's take back and repair schemes and the fibre-to-fibre recycling they were doing with Teijin in Japan. 

I also began to explore how the clothing and textiles industry could transition to a circular economy model and what this would look like and need to involve. I followed what was happening with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and became interested in themes such as how to keep resources and materials circling (& what are the roles of the consumer and industry here), how to design out waste or design for the waste created being beneficial for the next stage of the cycle, how to reduce (or design out completely) any processes or products that cause harm to the environment.

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In Spring 2014 I closed Cookie West Showroom & Party Plan, but continued to work on small freelance projects.  I began to supply a design, make or adaptation bespoke service for private clients: women's performance sports/activewear, lingerie, swimwear, nightwear and dresses, made using ‘end of line’ fabrics and trims or adapting/altering an existing garment. Plus a repairs service, to extend the lifetime of clothing. Alongside this, I started as the Partnership Manager for arts & cultural charity Big Difference Company in August 2014. Who produce a range of events, Festivals, projects and programmes, using the Arts and Comedy to make a difference to peoples' lives.