Creating a beautiful colour palette for each collection is one of my priorities as a designer of ethical & sustainable clothing. I’m a perfectionist when it comes to quality dyed fabric and I want each shade to be subtle and natural. The only way to create nature-inspired hues is to plant dye and while it’s a long process, it most definitely has stunning results.

I work with a small, dedicated team In Bali who use indigenous plants to create earthy pigments and dyes. The entire process is eco-friendly and organic and it’s fascinating to watch.

As soon as you walk into the studio you notice the strong scent of the leaves slowly fermenting. It’s an essential part of the dye process; an ancient technique that is gentle on the fabric and kind to the earth.

The entire dye process takes a little over a week and begins with the collecting of leaves from the studio’s plantation. The leaves are chopped and then immersed in water that boils for six hours until the dye is ready. The fabric is dip-dyed for an hour before it’s washed and this process - dip-dyeing and then washing - is repeated between six to ten times to create the desired colour.

Of course, there are pros and cons to every part of the design and manufacturing journey and plant dyeing is no different. The dye process is slow and unpredictable. We get more variation in colour which can create unique and charming colour for a few pieces and not-so-ideal shades on others. But this is all part of the sacrifice a brand must make when we opt to design sustainable clothing with a conscience. And I know that so many of my customers appreciate this effort and the unique, earth-friendly clothing they get to wear as a result.

This new era of eco-fashion has introduced a plethora of words and phrases into the sales pitch and as a conscious shopper, it’s easy to get confused by what it all means. Now that sustainable fashion is ideal, the notion of green washing an otherwise not-very-sustainable brand is rife. There’s a lot of mixed messages out there and subsequently, a lot of confused customers. So how do you know what’s sustainable? How do you know that the label you’re buying is as ethical as you want it to be? How can you shop with awareness and trust that the item you’re buying ticks all your eco priorities?

Transparency is essential as is the clear defining of ethical clothing, sustainable clothing and slow fashion. Put simply:

Ethical Fashion – concerns human rights.
Sustainable Fashion – concerns the environment.
Slow Fashion – concerns the clothing piece itself.

Ethical fashion concerns the men and women who dye the fabric, create the patterns and sew each collection for Studio Sol. If you have read my previous posts, you know that I work closely with a plant-dye factory and a studio that pays their staff a fair wage and honours all religious holidays and ceremonies. The staff work in safe, healthy and comfortable conditions and are offered paid overtime but are never obliged to take it. I visit the dye factory and studio multiple times a year to oversee production and I enjoy connecting with my workers who have become friends over the years.

Sustainable fashion directly concerns the environment and I believe that this is an area that I, as a designer, can constantly improve on. The environmental cost of fabric production is significant and utilising fabrics such as linen and hemp are a priority for me as they use significantly less water and create less waste than cotton. That said, I still use cotton in my collections but where possible, I choose a cotton/linen or cotton/hemp blend. All the offcuts from my designs become bags that each order is packaged in and I encourage you to reuse them as shopping, library or storage bags….they are beautiful decorations to hang off a bedroom hook and just as useful for keeping receipts, birthday cards and important documents safe.