In 2022, I wrote an email to our community that inspired a lively debate. That week, London was predicted to hit a scorching 40 degrees and I couldn't help drawing the connection between the growing climate crisis and the fashion industry.
Our very first Paloma Top Pattern, ready to sew.

Slow Fashion and Sustainable Sewing

Before starting The Modern Sewing Co. I ran a sustainable slow fashion brand, fuelled by a deep dive into the environmental impact of fast fashion. After wrestling with global supply chains and textile manufacturers, I knew I had to speak up on the environmental impact of the industry versus home sewing. It was fascinating to explore this with many home sewists in our community. Read more here.

Climate Crisis

Four years on, I'm at my desk here in our studio, on the brink of yet another heatwave, knowing that the topic is more important than ever. In the past month, I've had conversations with my team that I’d never expected. We’ve voted to adjust our hours to start at relatively cooler 7.30am, been forced to work from home to avoid travelling via the scorching London Underground - and struggled to use our industrial iron for more than a few minutes at a time.
Pressing the Paloma Top before the heatwave sun hit our studio windows.

Aside from daily work, I realised the warming climate is, consciously or otherwise, influencing our designs, too. When our pattern cutter Hanni and I were sketching out plans for our new Paloma Top Pattern, we focused on designing a top that is both beautiful and as functional as possible, with side slits for maximum air flow in humid summer days.

The side slits in progress...

Timeless Style

So, I was in a reflective mood on a short trip to New York last weekend. Whenever I'm there, I always visit the the Metropolitan Museum for inspiration and managed to catch their latest exhibition. Costume Art pairs contemporary garments with artefacts to highlight the enduring relationship between clothing and bodies.
As I walked through the thankfully airconned galleries, I realised this is the most compelling exhibition I have seen in a long time. Seeing fashion depicted on 2,000 year old urns mirrored in modern designs highlights for me just how much functional, timeless style can endure. Quite the opposite of fleeting trends on the high street.

Contemporary fashion paralleling terracotta pots from the early 4th century BC. The Veiled Woman by Rafaello Monti (1854) paired with draped Maison Margiela (2020).

On the flight back to humid London, I thought about the themes behind the exhibition. The persistent pursuit of newness is just so detrimental to our world and global community. If we as home sewists make the choice to focus on timeless sewing patterns, evolving our skills and making quality pieces we reach for again and again, we can consciously opt out of throwaway culture that contributes so much to the climate crisis.

I'm sure you'll have lots of opinions on this, too, so please do drop me an email to hello@modernsewingco.com with your thoughts. To our NYC friends, let me know if you've seen the show, too!

Hetty x 

PS: if you're interested in learning more about the power of sustainable fashion, here are my reading recommendations. All of them are brilliant:

• Safia Minney - Slow Fashion: Aesthetics Meets Ethics

• Lucy Siegle - To Die For

• Claire Press - Wardrobe Crisis

• Kassia St Clair - The Golden Thread: How Fabric Changed History

 

Want more?

• I share more about my decision to leave the fast fashion industry to build a slow fashion sewing company. Read on here.
• Unsure about the tangible impact of homesewn clothes versus fast fashion? Deep dive into my research on fashion supply chains.
• Discover the new Paloma Top Pattern and Step-by-Step Guide here.