The ReMade in Leeds Project is a forward thinking design concept working from grassroots level to really challenge current fashion by working within a community to draw on local skills and resources to create an innovative collection for our brand Antiform.

Working in Hyde Park has shown that like many other communities in the UK there are incredible sewing, repair, craft and embellishment skills which are generally under used. Also these don´t seem to be being passed on generationally especially traditional techniques like beading, embroidery and crochet. Also the rise of fast fashion has lead to a huge amount of waste clothing being produced in the area, much of which is currently just landfilled.

ReMade in Leeds pulls these local resources together working alongside people from the community through workshops to produce garments that can be made here in Hyde Park. This has the potential to really recognise the diversity of local skills, create local employment, add value to local waste clothing and bring people together through a shared passion.

The collection has been made with the help and support of 64 local people so far including beaders, knitters, artists, seamstresses and volunteers. Antiform is now selling an 8 piece collection all hand made in Hyde Park, Woodhouse and Chapletown.

The collection is supported by a free monthly exchange event which brings materials and people into the project. The symbiotic relationship between the resulting collection and the exchange is key to the development of the project allowing local residents to get involved on different levels, creating a whole new system for local fashion.

This project comes at a time of not only increasing awareness of sustainable issues but also against a backdrop of economic depression. The very principles of this project hope to encourage re-learning of skills, repairing techniques and the collective reuse of clothing through swapping to promote an inclusive system open to everyone.

ReMade in Leeds explores a blueprint for this new local fashion system, a brand which approaches fashion in a holistic way to create, share and reuses clothing within a local creative space. The template created through the project can then be replicated across other communities creating a ReMade Network. If you are interested in starting a ReMade project in your area contact us.