With a ten-year hiatus now firmly in the rear view, the conclusion of Manchester Fashion Week’s self-assured revival marks the beginning of a whole new chapter, showcasing an impactful, sustainability-driven ethos that has eluded major fashion weeks like London and New York.
Although, of course, it isn’t really elusive if you aren’t even looking for it.
With its focus on sustainability – present in both the engaging panel talks and the main event runway – and a renewed commitment to the grass roots, MFW’s return was a wake-up call: there is so much to see when you look North.
Rightly, then, the tone was set on day one by a panel which proclaimed Manchester to be a “catalyst city” – not ephemeral, as the status quo London set might suggest, but critical in establishing a future for fashion and the fashion industry globally.
Here, Eco Age CEO John Higginson made a statement that would resonate across the week: “Manchester is a city of makers and innovators. This week is about doing the work in public. We are connecting heritage, skills and innovation to build models that last.
“Runways matter, but measurable impact matters more. If we leave this week with clearer commitments on local production, circularity and fair work, then we have done our job.”
“The re-emergence of Manchester is really important for the UK’s fashion industry because we need to showcase sustainable alternatives – different ways, not just of making fashion but consuming fashion.” – Carry Somers, Founder of Fashion Revolution
Focusing on Manchester’s more egalitarian approach, the event’s Executive Producer, Gemma Gratton, aptly adds: “Manchester leads when it is practical, honest and bold. We built this programme around learning as much as showing. Education, workshops and open debate sit alongside the runway because that is how real change lands.”
Where the panel’s optimistic, open dialogue laid the groundwork, Liverpool-born designer Drew Kent built on that foundation with ADORAFLORA: a layering- and modularity-driven statement on what Kent calls “eco-fabulous queer maximalism.”
Speaking to Eco Age, Kent notes the fashion industry’s historic imbalance, touching on a key theme of MFW: “A lot of the time people here are from working class backgrounds, like myself, and I feel like you can tell that throughout the collections. Sometimes, with massive amounts of funding, you don’t get the same vibe showing through.”
And perhaps nowhere, across three triumphant days dedicated to a city’s enduring spirit and evolving approach, was this democratic ethos clearer than when volunteer Pip was handed a garment and an invitation to walk by Safia Minney MBE in a clear subversion of fashion’s archaic power structures.
“Safia is an incredible innovator and voice for female artisans in fashion supply chains across the world. To work alongside her styling each of the pieces was such an honour,” offered Pip. Both elated by the experience and emboldened by her part in the presentation, she adds: “Manchester is rooted in craftsmanship and diversity. The rebirth of MFW signifies Manchester’s allegiance to sustainable fashion and the opportunities for innovation that’s brewing in the city.”
Elsewhere, Manchester-rooted Janey Cribbin’s latest collection, MANCUNIA UGLY, repurposed upcycled automotive interiors into genderless apparel artefacts. Her work here reflected earnestly on Manchester’s history of DIY car culture and its unapologetic maximalism without ever diverting into nostalgia, putting the future at the fore with a focus on material circularity.
Salford-based label V.A.LE, created by designer Viet Anh Le, notably delivered another presentation which deftly and articulately connected haute couture with deadstock materials, proving that luxury and waste are not a necessary or inevitable partnership.
In presentations by the likes of Ślipa and À Couvert, much weight was given to the craft of handmade fashion – both as a tribute to the city’s enduring legacy on that front and to mindfully-made garments’ place in a more sustainable fashion ecosystem.
On this theme, Fashion Revolution founder Carry Somers offers Eco Age some further insight: “The re-emergence of Manchester is really important for the UK’s fashion industry because we need to showcase sustainable alternatives – different ways, not just of making fashion but consuming fashion.”
MFW also pulled from Liverpool and North Wales, with deadstock outerwear outfit BEPO and slow-made label MAKE IT WET each proving that London is far from the be-all and certainly not the end-all where fashion’s most forward-facing work is concerned.
Working on this same understanding of a need to break accepted norms, “Fashion’s Unfinished Empire” – a workshop led by Safia Minney MBE and (un)sustainability consultant Lavinia Muth – focused on dismantling the colonial legacy and mindset ingrained in the industry’s supply chains.
Later, an event hosted by the Future Fashion Fair – led by Carry Somers, with Safia Minney of Fashion Declares and Eco Age’s own Paul Foulkes-Arellano – opened up a dialogue with the public in a crucial element of engagement, far from the usual exclusionary nature of the world’s various fashion weeks.
“Manchester will always do things differently. When you’re on the outside of what people consider the epicentre, you develop your own way of doing things.” – Meme Gold, artist and designer
In speaking with attendees of all kinds, one thing becomes clear: not only was MFW’s return not a blip, it was also not to be deemed a renaissance for the city.
Instead, as designer and artist Meme Gold notes, the event highlighted people that have too-long been given too little of the spotlight: “Manchester will always do things differently. When you’re on the outside of what people consider the epicentre, you develop your own way of doing things. We keep it moving without everyone else’s cogs and wheels. That’s just the fabric of the city, that’s what we do.”
MFW paints its home city as a genuine leader, rather than an outlier. Not an anomaly or an oddity, but an aspiration.
Karl Smith-Eloise is Features Director for Eco Age. He has worked as the EMEA Editorial Lead for HYPEBEAST and Editorial Director of FUTUREVVORLD, as a contributing editor to Highsnobiety, and for the fashion house FENDI. He now focuses exclusively on Earth-forward and ethical avenues in fashion, footwear and the broader culture.