The London Designer Making Recycled Fashion Look Good

Where did your interest in fashion begin?

“Our parents always encouraged me and my brothers to design, make and build things when we were young. We grew up in a rural village in Kent, four miles to the nearest shop, so you really had to make your own fun like that. Then at the age of 11 I joined the air cadets and learnt to fly, thereby developing a fascination for military clothing and original functional fabrics.”

One of the aims of our Considered edit is to debunk the idea that ‘sustainable fashion’ is expensive, unfashionable and inaccessible. Tell us your thoughts on that and how that applies to the Christopher Raeburn brand? 

“For me, RÆBURN is first and foremost about innovative, considered design and functionality at a competitive price.
The great thing is that more and more designers are operating in a similar way; providing beautiful and timeless pieces, with a brilliant story to match. With the work of brands and media platforms such as your Considered edit, attitudes towards ‘sustainable fashion’ are certainly changing.”

What’s a typical day like for you?

“Very varied, especially whilst juggling my role as Global Creative Director at Timberland and RÆBURN. One day I may be in the RÆBURN Lab in London working on the concept for our next collection, and the next I may be in Switzerland or the US at Timberland HQ working on a wide range of exciting projects.
In my busy schedule, any free time is spent running, cycling or enjoying exhibitions. We’re so fortunate with the amount of museums, art galleries and local talent available here in London that there is always something new to see.”

What’s your favourite city in the world?

“Despite challenging times, there’s no other place like London when it comes to creativity and diversity. I feel very fortunate to call London home.”

How do you think your London aesthetic translates to an antipodean wearer?

“I’d like to think that our aesthetic is universal, and we do have customers from all over the world. Our design always has wearability in mind, so I hope it adapts to any wearer to make it their own.”

What drove you to start reworking surplus materials, products and artefacts into new designs? 

“I started using recycled materials from the very beginning of my university life, simply because it was a more resourceful way of working and the process interested me. So it began by reconstructing original 1950s British battledress jackets as part of my first-year menswear project back in 2001.”

How do you source your materials?

“It’s almost an archaeological process if I’m honest. I very much enjoy going out and finding original items from warehouses or the Internet, and turning them into something new. This process involves a lot of research and dedication but is very rewarding.”

Why is it important to you to manufacture in England?

“Our RÆMADE IN ENGLAND philosophy grew quite organically from my fascination with military materials, utilitarian clothing and essentially functionality. Each RÆMADE garment is handcrafted by our head seamstress Zory in our Lab in London. Our customers love this aspect, as they see it as a mark of quality, reassurance and honesty.
Sourcing the right materials is however hugely important, and we have taken things from all over the world. That being said, we can do source locally as much as possible for environmental reasons, but it’s about the fabric, the material and the functionality first.”

It’s impressive that you were so aware of recycling and reducing waste over a decade ago when you began your label…

“I think the issues of our consumerist lifestyles have only truly received the mass attention and acknowledgement it needs in recent years. However, with the likes of programs like the BBC’s Blue Planet 2, there’s finally been a more emotional connection with waste and our individual contributions. We’re at an exciting, pivotal time where the shift is beginning to happen. We certainly feel like our customers (old and new) are becoming more engaged, they’re curious and interested, and keen to ask questions.”

What impact do you hope to make?

“I think as a designer you have an obligation to consider what you are doing and why; ultimately, we want to make strong, considered choices that provide our customers with a desirable product at a competitive price.
In a world of overconsumption and fast fashion, one of the most radical things we can do as consumers is to keep our clothes for as long as possible. We want our customers to invest in quality that they can wear over and over again, and will last them a lifetime. As part of this initiative, we offer every customer free lifelong repairs.”

Tell us about the piece that the most work went into. What’s been most laborious process?

“Looking back, the AW15 RAFT collection was a tough one. We turned inflatable life rafts into beautiful outerwear pieces, so that made it a very challenging but rewarding project to work on. But in general, any of the RÆMADE pieces take the most hours of work due to the nature of the materials we use e.g. Parachutes. We have to take the original pieces apart before we are able to cut and work with them. 

My inspiration has come from a really broad range of places. This could be anything from a physical object such as a life raft which then goes on to form a collection, through to a flea market in New York or an antique store in Tokyo. As a creative, I am interested in everything and inspiration can be found everywhere.”

What do you think is the future of fashion?

“The industry is on the cusp of being changed radically as we are coming ever closer to closing the loop. The innovation that is happening around responsible design is ground-breaking, and there are really interesting materials and programs which will totally affect the way we are consuming. We have to become accountable for the way we make, produce, sell and dispose of fashion. To observe this change and be at the forefront of it is extremely exciting for us as a brand.”

What’s your dream for the future of the brand?

“In the short term, we want to continue to challenge and disrupt our industry. Essentially, we are always looking for new, innovative ways of working, expanding our product range, collaborating with like-minded people and exploring our retail opportunities. Longer term, it would be amazing to grow the business into one of ‘global localisation’ whereby we then apply our RÆMADE ethos to other key markets. For instance, what would ‘RÆMADE in Japan’ look like?”