The Katharine Hamnett Sustainable Fabric Archive was originally donated to the Centre for Sustainable Fashion at London College of Fashion in 2013. At the time, the donation represented fabrics that were at the forefront of sustainable textile manufacturing from the 1990s to the late 2000s. Alongside more commonly used sustainable materials such as organic cotton, peace silk and hemp, there are several fabrics made from alternative, sustainable fibres in the collection. The alternative fibres in the archive can be split into three categories: alternative natural fibres, semi-synthetic cellulose fibres and recycled plastic (PET) fibres.
The natural fibres within the collection are bamboo and ramie, both have only recently been introduced into mainstream and mass textile production. However, both fibres have been used for centuries in Asia giving these materials important cultural and historical significance. The increasing popularity of these fibres in the mainstream market is due to advancements in manufacturing processes which have allowed bamboo and ramie fabrics to be more affordable.
Lyocell and Tencel represent the semi-synthetic cellulose fibres in the collection. Such fabrics are made from chemically processed wood pulp which is spun to create yarn. An organic solvent is used in this process and almost 100% of the water and chemicals used are recycled. Also, most of the wood used to produce Lyocell and Tencel are eucalyptus trees which are grown on land unsuitable for food crop and are forested in a sustainable way.
PET fabrics are purely synthetic and do not contain any natural component as in the natural and semi-synthetic fibres groups, instead PET is made from recycled consumer plastics, such as plastic bottles. These plastics are either chemically or mechanically recycled to break the material down so that it may be re-melted and shaped into new fibres which are then spun and woven into fabric.
Katharine Hamnett has been an advocate of sustainability in fashion since 1989 when she first started actively lobbying against sweatshop labour and the use of pesticides in cotton growing, which left farmers with pesticide poisoning. The time period of the archive intersects with this era of change and innovation in Hamnett’s brand. As such, the archive embodies not only Hamnett’s activism but also an important moment in history of sustainable textile manufacturing.
You can view the entire Katharine Hamnett Sustainable Fashion Archive here