Following the completion of an MA at Central Saint Martins, Caroline Smithson has already found herself working with some of the fashion industry’s biggest names such as Alexander McQueen, Proenza Schouler, and Peter Pilotto.
For her own label Ssōne, Smithson marries substance with style, while creating garments and accessories crafted from organic, recycled, and natural materials that also utilizes low-water washing and dyeing processes. In addition, Ssōne uses textile cut-offs and unsold garments and repurposes them to fall in line with the label’s zero waste mentality.
To further aid in its sustainable initiatives and aim in delivering ethically made clothing, the contemporary label has teamed up with London-based global luxury retailer MatchesFashion to release an exclusive capsule comprised of repurposed and upcycled garments.
Titled “Re-Ssōne,” the range comprises of looks that are meticulously crafted out of MatchesFashions’ unsold and deadstock fabrics. The exclusive eye-catching pieces feature intricate hand embroideries, exposed stitching details, patchwork, and Ssōne branding.
The capsule is comprised of elevated essentials such as a denim jacket, an oversized button-up shirt, a zippered jean skirt, T-shirts, and hero outerwear choices, all perfect for the transitional fall season up ahead. The most noteworthy item is the multicoloured Kantha hand-patchworked jacket crafted from the leftover fabric of previous collections.
Highlighting the label’s efforts to achieve a zero-waste culture, the jacket was patchworked by artisans in India using the time-honoured process and ancient Kantha techniques. To aid in this process Ventures, a fair wage artisan workshop in India, helped to transform the old fabric into new material.
Elsewhere, the Astrid hand-embroidered cotton poplin shirt features a hand-worked quilted square appliqué. Both the denim pieces also spotlight hand-embroidery and are made from organic and recycled denim. Other looks in the Ssōne x MatchesFashion “Re-Ssōne” collection have been crafted from recycled polyester, organic cotton, and recycled cotton.
For this special selection of garments, Ssōne joined forces with Fabricworks. This company provides textile training and development programs for unemployed women. Those who were chosen to take part in the “Re-Ssōne” collection were given the opportunity to construct the items at home with the assistance of Ssōne’s team.
The exclusive four-piece Ssōne x MatchesFashion “Re-Ssōne” collection is available now via MatchesFashion’s online store.
All images in this article are courtesy of Ssōne.
