Celebrating Sustainable Creativity: FARAxLCF 2024

We are excited to share the success of our second collaboration with London College of Fashion: FARAxLCF 2024.

This year, 19 talented LCF students actively addressed the issue of sustainability in the denim industry under the theme ‘Sustainability is in our Jeans.’ The initiative aimed to shed light on the environmental impact of denim, with a particular focus on precious water resources.

The journey kicked off at our flagship store in Islington where the students were faced with a mountain of ‘deadstock’ denim. Deadstock refers to unsellable goods donated to FARA charity shops – in this instance unsellable denim jeans, jackets, skirts, shorts and shirts. The challenge? To transform this discarded fabric into new, innovative pieces of clothing, merging fashion with sustainability. You can see more from deadstock day here.

The Show @LCF Stratford

Of the 19 entrants, our judges whittled it down to 10 finalists to present their designs at a fashion show in the new LCF campus in Stratford. The judging panel included Deborah Bee – founder of Bee&Sons sustainable knitwear brand; Melanie Rickey – founder of The Enoughness and fashion and sustainability writer; Jo Sykes – designer and former Creative Director at Jigsaw; and Sarah Bailey – fashion writer and International Editor-at-Large of Greek Vogue.

While their models walked the catwalk, each student shared how their ideas and concepts aligned with the brief, with FARA’s values, and described the unique experience of working solely with discarded denim.

After much deliberation, the judges – impressed by the high standard of the entries – chose to honour four students as follows:

Theo Fenton-Stubbs: Highly Commended (left)
Keeva Volpe: Commended (top, centre)
Morwenna Hayes: Commended (right)
James Clark: Commended (centre, bottom)

Thank you to all the students and staff at LCF for hosting us in the incredible new space, and for ensuring the show went off without a hitch.

In the news!

We were thrilled for the collaboration to be featured on ITV news – you can watch the feature here: https://www.itv.com/watch/news/sustainability-is-in-our-jeans-fashion-students-collaboration-with-fara-charity-shop/lmfckr1

A chance to celebrate

The following week we gathered to celebrate FARAxLCF 2024 at our flagship shop in Islington, where a special event honoured not only the students, but also everyone who contributed to making this year’s collaboration such a success. Scott Wimsett returned as our host and MC, presenting the students with well-deserved certificates alongside FARA CEO Libby Gordon.

The event brought together sustainable fashion influencers and friends of FARA, with guests proudly donning FARAxLCF designs. Notable attendees included actress Mia Tomlinson, dressed in Summer Canterbury, and Chloe Dall’Olio, who wore a creation by Molly Aberdour.

(L-R) Chloe Dall’Olio and Mia Tomlinson for FARAxLCF 2024

Seven of the incredible outfits were proudly displayed in Islington’s shop window, allowing the local community a chance to appreciate the creativity and hard work that went into the students’ designs.

The evening gave everyone involved in the project a chance to relax and catch up over our shared love of preloved fashion and sustainability, all while supporting FARA charity shops in raising funds for our vital programmes in Romania.

Our collaboration with London College of Fashion provides a meaningful platform for young talent to contribute towards a more sustainable future for the fashion industry, and underscores FARA’s commitment to creativity, sustainability, and a strong sense of community.

Thank you to Belu Water for providing sustainable refreshments for our guests, and to @Dani Dawks for being our roving reporter behind the scenes and bringing her love of upcycling and humour to the project. Check out her Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/isitdanidawks/